Don’t cry because they have left. 

Celebrate, because they have lived.

Ting has a terminal illness.

She decided to forgo her treatment and accept life as it is, awaiting her death.

 

Losing someone is always hard, but there is an important symbolism through someone's passing.


The living can bear the consequence of the departed or enjoy the loving memories one has left behind.


Death is something we all have to confront, a natural process that will eventually occur. The life beyond death comes in one shape and form within the living plane; appreciation for being able to be alive.

 
 

Unconventionally, she decided to spend her final days building her own coffin at the Coffin Club.

 
 

Not too far from this tiny red dot is New Zealand, where a ‘death positive’ movement was established to help the elderly approach the topic of death positively.


The Kiwi Coffin Club formed a part of this purpose. You’d be surprised to know how these elderly are finding peace with death, simply by constructing and decorating their own coffins. As grotesque as it may sound, how each of them chooses to decorate their own coffin showcases their journey through the years, and is a reminder to the people around them of who they were in that life.

At the Coffin Club, Teo lends a hand to a lady building her coffin.

More than just a club to build coffins, a Coffin Club is a social activity, where people come together to socialize and to provide opportunity to develop a community to talk about anything besides death and dying.

While an actual ‘coffin club’ does not exist in Singapore just yet, the film, The Coffin Club, aims to challenge the norm and bring to light a new way of how one can approach the conversation of death.

 
 

Ting’s husband, Zhe Yi, isn’t too keen on the idea and wishes for Ting to receive treatment instead.

 
 

It speaks volumes about the lesson on cherishing the time you have with a loved one, to understand that a decision to stop treating an illness is not always one that is selfish and last but not least - to live and leave without regret. 

The film takes you through Ting and Zhe Yi’s journey and their battle as a couple to overcome the acceptance of death, Ting’s disparate decision to stop treating her illness and to join the Coffin Club. 

He thinks that Ting is being selfish by not getting her treatment.

Teo tries to convince him otherwise.

 

How will Zhe Yi handle coming to terms with Ting’s terminal illness and her eventual death? Can Teo change Zhe Yi’s perspective on Ting’s final resolution?

Watch to find out more, only on STOREYS.