2022 | 91 min | A feature documentary by Donagh Coleman
Free Film Screening + Discussion with Director

Date and time: Monday 2 November 2026, 6pm- 8.30pm
Venue: Thomas Davis Theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin
Book here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/tukdam-between-worlds-tickets-2001840681366?aff=oddtdtcreator

Most of us think of death as something clear-cut, and that medical science has it neatly figured out. This feature documentary challenges such assumptions through its exploration of a phenomenon that blurs life and death to an unprecedented degree. In what Tibetan Buddhists call tukdam, advanced meditators die in a consciously controlled manner. Though dead according to our biomedical standards, they often stay sitting upright in meditation; remarkably, their bodies remain fresh and lifelike, without signs of decay for days, sometimes weeks after clinical death. Following ground-breaking scientific research into tukdam and taking us into intimate death stories of Tibetan meditators, the film juxtaposes scientific and Tibetan perspectives as it tries to unravel the mystery of tukdam. 

Donagh Coleman is a Finnish-Irish-American filmmaker and scholar with degrees from Trinity College Dublin and an MA in Asian Studies and PhD in Medical Anthropology from UC Berkeley. His award-winning films include A Gesar Bard’s Tale (2013) and Stone Pastures (2008), with work shown internationally, including at MoMA and the Rubin Museum of Art. He has also produced radio documentaries and is a recipient of the Mind & Life Europe Varela Research Award and a Fulbright-Hays Research Scholar.