“This research brings together two themes I have been researching for some time: death and the power of stories,” says Enny Das, professor of Communication & Influence and researcher of the film experiment that is part of the InScience Film Festival. “Indeed, stories turn out to be a good way to talk about death: I have noticed that people do not like to talk about death, but on the contrary, they find it enormously interesting to talk about stories about death.”
Death is a subject that Das has been trying to get to the bottom of all her life. “For example, why are we so afraid of dying? It's understandable to be sad when you lose someone, but where does the fear of dying ourselves come from? After all, we don't know what that will be like, so why are we afraid of it?" wonders Das.
To find out more, she is conducting research at the Joris Ivens room in LUX during the InScience festival. Das: “InScience is a special place to do this experiment because it is not a clinical research location like a laboratory. In fact, we are interested in people's real-life experiences. It also allows for an equal exchange between researcher and visitor. As a visitor, you produce useful data and in return you can learn something about yourself through this experiment.”
Enny Das' experiment works in rounds. On Saturday and Sunday, a new round starts every whole hour. Visitors can register for a specific time at the entrance to the Joris Ivens room (in the LUX box office building). Please note that this experiment takes place in Dutch.
InScience, International Science Film Festival Nijmegen is one of the largest international science film festivals in Europe. The programme consists of the best science films released worldwide in the past year. During the festival, top international scientists, filmmakers and audiences meet to share the latest insights shaping tomorrow's world. InScience 2023 takes place in downtown Nijmegen, from March 16 to 19. Check out the programme here: Programme - InScience (insciencefestival.nl)