This is not a film about death, or about dying; this is about human spirits, sacrifice and our quest for knowledge. Donated to Science tackles a difficult subject in a funny, sad, and honest way. For many years, medical students have been taught anatomy by dissecting the human body. However, this practice is fast disappearing, to be replaced by models, videos and demonstrations. The filmmakers follow a group of people who plan to donate their bodies to the Otago Medical School in New Zealand for dissection by medical students. When the donors are still living, they are asked about their lives, their loves, their hopes, their fears, and their decision to give the filmmakers permission to follow their bodies through life, death, and to the dissection room. These interviews are presented alongside the footage at the dissection class. The students watch their cadaver*s interviews after the dissection, and their reactions make this an unexpectedly life-affirming, and above all, a human film. Despite the subject matter, the film is not an exploitative gore-fest, it is a sensitive and emotional film looking at the relationship between medical students, researchers and the bodies they dissect. It ponders why people choose to donate their bodies, and examine what that means to those they leave behind. These people sacrifice for the advancement of science and the education of future doctors, dentists and surgeons. It is their noble generosity that drives and revolutionizes modern science and medicine.

Running Time: 58 mins

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