The message behind a new festival that celebrates mortality

Three years ago, Stefan Hunt was so afraid of "screwing up" he struggled to leave the house, would start crying in supermarkets, and found that anxiety was, in general, ruining his life. Then he realised something: we are all going to die.

"It was like the Lion King moment, like Mufasa in the sky talking to me," the 30-year-old filmmaker said. It was the first time that he had felt a sense of clarity and that there was only one guarantee in life, and that all of us would face it one day regardless of what we did.

After sharing the epiphany with other friends who'd been struggling with anxiety and depression, Hunt decided do something big with it. In January he quit his job and poured his life savings and time into creating We're All Going To Die, a festival about death and fear that he promises won't be too spooky.

It's all coming to life on Friday night at Waterloo warehouse complex Commune, which will transform into a "choose your own adventure" labyrinth of art and light installations, music, talks, dance, meditation, a mini-film festival and other activities all centred around the subject of death. And it's not all doom and gloom.

We're All Going To Die festival creator Stefan Hunt (centre) with psychologist Mary Hoang and Commune founder Sam Ali. Credit: Christopher Pearce

"There'll be things to make you ponder, things that make you cry, or wet yourself laughing, and things that make you want to hug your friends," Hunt said. "It's all about getting people to fear less and live more."

Mary Hoang, head psychologist at the Indigo Project, is among more than 50 artists contributing to the festival. As the festival's mental health partner, the Indigo Project aims to ground the event in legitimate psychology practices, and counsellors will be on hand for anyone who needs to talk about issues that may be raised.

As well as speaking on a panel, Ms Hoang will lead a 20-minute "death meditation" that will invite participants to explore their feelings about death and fear from multiple angles.

"Our fear and denial of death is something that holds us back," she said. "Death and suffering is one of our greatest teachers… but our society really just avoids talking about it. It's considered morbid."

It's Hunt's unique and accessible approach to breaking taboos around fear and death that convinced Sam Ali, artist and founder of Commune, to get involved.

"Having gone through similar experiences… confronting fears and opening up a dialogue about death, it really spoke a lot to me and it's something I wanted to support," he said.

"Fear is in everyone's life. It applies to everyone. We are all gonna die, and we are all scared," said Hunt, who plans to take We're All Going To Die around the country.

"If we can talk about that and realise we're not the only ones who are scared, it changes everything."