I am of the nature to grow old. I cannot escape old age.
I am of the nature to grow ill. I cannot escape sickness.
I am of the nature to die. I cannot escape death.
I will be separated from everything and everyone I hold dear.
My actions are my only true belongings.
The Buddha
The journey has begun! We started shooting our next doc on Life Honoring Celebrations called It’s YOUR Wonderful Life! Why wait until our loved ones are dead before we say all the beautiful things about them that need to be said? Let’s turn the idea of funerals on their head and send people on their way with loving blessings in their heart, knowing the real difference they made in people’s lives during this lifetime.
You and your loved ones matter! No matter who you are, no matter your age, race, gender or non-gender, skills, achievements and success level, your sexual orientation, whether you feel loved or not, whether you’ve ever won a contest, award, or prize, whether you think you’re near death or not, but especially if you are, you matter! And those loved ones in your life nearing death do too! Every life is precious and deserves recognition.
People gathering to offer life honoring celebrations to their loved ones before they pass could be the societal vehicle we need to re-form and strengthen communities. This film seeks to disrupt the status quo by suggesting other approaches to rampant death denialism: let’s create CELEBRATIONS to honor our loved ones BEFORE they leave us. Sign up to join the It’s YOUR Wonderful LIfe movement! Help us make this documentary in progress…
Recent Stories about the film in the press
Join Us!
We’re looking for dying people who may fit one of these parameters:
The more we embrace our mortality not as an aberration of God and nature, but as an agent urging us on to life completion, the more our anxiety transforms into feelings of awe, thanksgiving, and appreciation.
– Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
A major talent in American filmmaking. All his work is imbued with power, intelligence, social concern, and utter dedication.
Frederick is a man of integrity; his word is his bond. He is a man who cares about lives; his stories go beyond entertainment to impact. He is a man of significant creativity; he uses his talent to make a genuine difference in the world.
My hope is that people who watch [Veterans Journey Home] take away a deeper understanding of the American Veteran, who we are as a collective, and a greater sense of how to speak to us as a population.
Thank you Frederick for clarifying a simple solution for just about every wrong in our planet. Backed with multiple lifetimes worth of expert knowledge, Rites to a Good Life presents us an opportunity for getting our world back on track. The work is critical for our survival. Will we do it?
Filled like a banquet with rituals, stories, medicines, quotes and models, recipes for genuine growth and transformation... Rites to a Good Life is a call for us all to reflect on our own personal journey and its place in the culture and cosmos around us.
Frederick Marx has written a touchingly intimate account of love, loss and healing. Losing a loved one is something most everyone faces at some point in life. At Death Do Us Part shows the possibility of navigating through this journey with consciousness, understanding and an open heart.
Mr. Marx shines a light on a place and a way of life that are rapidly changing.
Most people know Frederick Marx from Hoop Dreams, Journey From Zanskar, and other fine films. They probably don't know that he is a longtime student of dharma, an ordained Zen priest, and a gifted writer exploring the terrain of the human heart.
AT DEATH DO US PART is a true love story, on the plane with Joan Didion's YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING and Joyce Carol Oates' A WIDOW'S STORY. Heart-breaking. Heart-healing.
This book is one's man's story of love, loss, and realization; actually it is a story that many of us know or will know. Heartbreaking, beautiful, intimate, challenging... This is a book we should all read.
The Steven Spielberg of documentary filmmaking.
