“We Are All Going to Die” by Stefan Hunt

In 2017, Stefan Hunt was facing an existential crisis. A filmmaker with an enviable career that allowed him to travel all over the world, he was beset by anxiety, questioning the meaning of everything in his life, from his relationships to his work. After trying all the usual fixes with varying degrees of success, he decided to try writing. He started with a poem, and the first words he wrote were these: “We are all going to die.” 

Since that first moment of putting pen to paper, Stefan has been exploring the concept of embracing death as a means of living a full and meaningful life. He took a sabbatical from filmmaking and set off on a five-week journey through the Spanish countryside. As he traveled, he finished and illustrated his poem, which soon became a book. Not long after that, he turned the book into a short (a little over 7 minutes, including the credits) film. Both the film and the book are titled “We Are All Going to Die.” 

A Fantastical Film About a Serious Subject

Featuring Jared Jekyll as its main (and only visible) character and Hugo Weaving, (The Matrix) who remains off-camera in the persona of Death, “We Are All Going to Die” is a fantastical look at what happens to a young man when he is suddenly confronted by death. As he sits slouched in his favorite chair in front of the TV, the man, played by Jekyll, hears a knock on the door. When he asks “Who is it?” he’s greeted by a deep, disembodied voice (Weaving) that asks, “My friend, are you ready to go?” A little back and forth banter follows, and then the voice asks a question that (quite literally) knocks Jekyll off his feet: “Do you know the secret to living your most radical life?” 

Stefan Hunt holding his book “We Are All Going to Die”
Credit: Kickstarter

From there the film moves through a series of wildly illustrated scenarios as Jekyll’s voice recites a litany of fears and self-doubts. Speaking in the rhyming, Dr. Seuss style of Hunt’s poem, he asks, “What if I quit my job, and dived in my wildest dreams? I could drown in the rapids of failure, and float in regret downstream. Or what if the highest of mountain compelled me to climb to its peak, but I choked on the icy air of doubt and never got back on my feet? Or what if I danced my bedroom moves for all the world to see? Surely people would laugh and gossip for all eternity!” 

Then, as he finishes his list of all-too-familiar excuses, he tells Death he will never figure out the answer to the question, because “Life has no guarantee.” Death replies, “Hold your horses! There’s something you cannot deny. The one guarantee in this precious life is someday you’re all gonna die!” 

When Jekyll sarcastically asks what Death would suggest he do, the voice answers, “What would you rather do? Live a life of risk, or risk a life unlived? The choice is up to you.”

From there Death takes over the narrative, presenting the possibilities that await the young man if he lets go of his fears and dives into life, ending his cajoling with the question, “So why not choose ‘why not?’ and embrace the uncertainty. For even if you fail at all, well, there’s still one guarantee.” 

Attendees at We Are All Going to Die Festival in Melbourne, Australia
Credit: wereallgoingtodie.com

The Message Takes Off 

As silly and fantastic as “We Are All Going to Die” is, it is a film worth taking a peek at if only to remind yourself that your fears are only as powerful as you allow them to be. Since writing the book and making the film, Stefan Hunt has certainly embraced that ethos. With the help of a few creative friends who have adopted the mantra “Fear less, live more,” he launched a successful Kickstarter campaign, raised over $30,000, and hosted the first interactive multi-media “We Are All Going to Die” festival in Sydney, Australia. Since then, the group has taken its message to cities across Australia and as far away as Los Angeles. 

If you’d like to watch the entire film online, you can view it here.