"The end of life should be what it really is: an important event, like birth or marriage."

This phrase sums up Stephen Jenkinson's position on death. The Canadian writer and cultural activist, who believes that most of us are "illiterate" in mourning, is coming to Greece for the first time for the screening of his film "Griefwalker" as well as for an influential speech that will make us see with another look at the inevitable finale.

Jenkinson, with a degree in Social Work, has led the palliative care department of a major Canadian hospital and has worked extensively with caregivers, the dying and their families, observing from thousands of people time and time again "bitter anxiety". He considers this feeling to be more a symptom of a cultural lack and an "illiteracy of mourning" than any individual's personal issue with death. And he wonders: Was it always so hard to die? When do we really start dying and what should we do then? Does grieving become a skill, something to be learned and practiced?

These considerations are the core of his writing work as well as of the film "Griefmalker", which the Athenian public will have the opportunity to see. It is a Canadian National Film Center production, directed by Tim Wilson. Filmed over a period of twelve years, the documentary follows Jenkinson in classrooms with doctors and nurses, in counseling sessions with patients and their families, and in often disarmingly candid discussions about the origins and implications of his ideas about how we live and we are dying.

He firmly believes that dying well is not a matter of enlightened self-interest or personal preference, but an obligation that the living and the dying owe to each other and to those who will come after us.

Event Information:
Screening of Stephen Jenkinson's "Griefwalker"
Jenkinson's speech and discussion with the audience will follow
The coordinator is the synthetic psychotherapist, Alexis Ioannou

*The film will be shown in English with Greek subtitles and the discussion that will follow will be in English with parallel translation.

When:

June 12, 2023 at 7:00 p.m

Tickets:

€12 General Admission
€8 Group Tickets from 3 people or more