Myra Fisher documentary to screen

"Final Pose," winner of Best of The Northwest at BendFilm 2014, will screen at The Belfry on Wednesday, December 3 at 7 p.m.

The screening will be a tool for sparking end-of-life conversations, with panelists from Bend Ashtanga Yoga, Compassion and Choices, and Partners In Care following the film's viewing. The event is open to the public. Tickets are $5 online at www.belfryevents.com, and $10 at the door.

"It's a film that encourages the broad discussion - from the realities of terminal illness, to the emotional challenges of facing death, to clarifying one's wishes at the end," says Matt Whitaker, Oregon Outreach Coordinator, Compassion and Choices, who attended the BendFilm Final Pose premiere. "It's a remarkable rallying tool for the tough conversations."

The locally filmed, 13-minute short documentary presents a series of interviews with Sisters yoga instructor Myra Fisher, who talks about life and death as she reflects on letting go of one practice - her yoga, while taking on another - dying of a rare cancer.

"A last wish of Myra's - to help inspire the conversation - is being realized in unexpected ways," says the film's Bend-based director, Karin Mellberg. "The film's fall release, coinciding with an unprecedented rise in media coverage of death and dying, makes Final Pose a timely community engagement tool."

This increased interest in end-of-life issues has been sparked, in part, by the advocacy of Death With Dignity legislation by 29-year-old Brittany Maynard; the release of the Institute of Medicine report, Dying In America, describing a healthcare system that is failing us at the end; as well as the news that Medicare may begin reimbursement of end-of-life conversations.

Ninety percent of Americans think it's important to have conversations about end-of-life wishes, but only 30 percent of us have actually had those conversations, according to a recent survey conducted by The Conversation Project, one of a handful of non-profits dedicated to transforming our culture so we shift from not talking about dying to talking about it.

The December program at The Belfry is the first of an unfolding 2015 schedule of Final Pose viewings that will offer screenings followed by panel discussions to help move end-of-life conversations forward.

For more information visit The Belfry website: http://www.belfryevents.com. The upcoming schedule of 2015 screenings of Final Pose will be posted to the film's website, www.finalposethefilm.com.