What if the most important conversation of your life started with a movie night?
Movies and television shows can open conversations about death in ways that lectures and pamphlets simply can't. Sometimes it's easier to explore mortality when it's unfolding on a screen, preferably with popcorn in hand.
98.6 Mortality Movies to See Before You Die curates 142 remarkable films and television programs that explore dying, grief, legacy, love, and what it truly means to live fully. Across genres and cultures, from comedy and drama to documentary and animation, these stories invite us to face the inevitable with honesty, insight, and even a little humor.
Each entry highlights key mortality themes and includes six thoughtful discussion prompts, transforming movie night into something far more meaningful than entertainment. Whether you're watching alone, with family, or hosting a community event, this guide helps turn cinematic moments into conversations that matter.
Perfect for:
- Educators
- Clergy and faith communities
- Funeral professionals
- Hospice and healthcare providers
- Death Cafés and community groups
- Families finally ready to start "the conversation"
Chapters are grouped by engaging themes such as:
- Funerals and Funeral Directors
- Medical Treatment and End-of-Life Issues
- Afterlife Visions
- Grief and Growth
- Mortality and Living Fully
- Estate Planning
- Documentaries, animated films, and television series
The book also supports Mortality Movie Nights, an innovative outreach model that helps organizations invite the public into their spaces for engaging, accessible conversations about death, grief, and planning ahead. It turns "Let's watch a movie" into "Let's talk about what really matters."
People often remember a powerful film scene far longer than an expert's carefully crafted advice. By combining pop culture with death education, this guide makes advance care planning and end-of-life discussions approachable, understandable, and actionable.
Because facing mortality doesn't have to be gloomy. It can be enlightening. Meaningful. Even life-affirming.
Talking about death won't kill you. But avoiding the conversation just might rob you of peace.
Pull up a chair. Start the movie. And begin the conversation that ultimately helps us live, and eventually leave, with intention, clarity, and heart.
Gail Rubin, CT, The Doyenne of Death(R), is a pioneering death educator. A doyenne is a woman considered senior in a group who knows a lot about a particular subject. Gail is a Certified Thanatologist (a death and grief educator) and speaker who uses humor and films to get end-of-life conversations started.She is also the coordinator of the award-winning Before I Die New Mexico Festival, a pioneer of the Death Cafe movement in the United States, and host of the Mortality Movies TV series and Mortality Movie Night events.She's a two-time TEDxABQ speaker. Her first talk in 2015, "A Good Goodbye," focused on the importance of starting end-of-life conversations before there's a death in the family. The second talk in 2025, "We offer our pets a good death, why not our people?" is about medical aid in dying. The Association for Death Education and Counseling recognized her work with their 2024 Community Educator Award. Her motto is, "Talking about sex won't make you pregnant. Talking about funerals won't make you dead."
