Film Update: To date, approximately one-third of This American Death has been shot, completing much of the film’s skeletal structure. The filmmakers are currently fundraising in preparation for the next phase of production which focuses on remaining interviews and following individuals faced with death and dying.
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Synopsis
What does it mean that today we can almost always extend life, if only for a few days, hours or minutes? Who does not question their Do Not Resuscitate order when death stares them in the face? How can doctors be expected to manage death when they receive so little end-of-life training and are increasingly specialized? Is it possible for someone to die in peace in America’s procedure-oriented hospital system? And how will we serve the tsunami of aging baby-boomers?
This American Death explores the complicated world of death and dying in contemporary America, examining the cultural and systemic issues which conspire against Americans experiencing a so-called good death. Despite the consensus that exists among Americans about how they wish to die - surrounded by loved ones, pain free and relatively unaided by technology - many still die in hospitals, in pain, supported by machines? The film takes a close look at this troubling dilemma.
Bios
Director: Susan Austin
Susan Austin left her simple upstate New York roots and set out for California in 1999. She graduated valedictorian of UCLA film school in 2002, where she was recognized for her films VOODOO and TIGHTER, winning the Peter Stark Memorial Scholarship and the Gene Reynolds Award. She worked as a script reader for Silver Lion Films and Penny Marshall’s Parkway Productions before returning to UCLA for an MFA in Screenwriting in 2004. Susan’s feature screenplay XANADU was selected for Film Independent’s Screenwriting Lab in 2010 and Fast Track program in 2011, as well as IFP’s No Borders. She is currently at work on a new feature and lives in New York City.
Producer: Lorielle Mallue
Since moving to New York, Lorielle has written for the Nick Jr. show, THE WONDER PETS and focused on producing THIS AMERICAN DEATH. Previously, in Los Angeles, Lorielle worked over six years for Jodie Foster in capacities ranging from assistant to story editor at Foster's Egg Pictures. Lorielle's short film, SELF: BY ALISON CARSEN was a writing award nominee and Director's Spotlight Award winner at UCLA in 2005 and was recognized with a Student Emmy in 2006. She teaches acting to NYU/Tisch and Conservatory students at the Atlantic Acting School. Lorielle has a BFA in Drama from NYU/Tisch, an MFA in Film from UCLA and an Ed.M. in Arts Education from Harvard University.
Interviewees
Derek Humphry
Author of Final Exit & Euthanasia Campaigner
Ira Byock, MD
Author of Dying Well
Jerri Grace Lyons
Founder/Director Final Passages & Death Widwife
Karen Leonard
Researcher on The American Way of Death Revisited & Death Rights Activist
Kenneth Stevens, MD
Vice President of Physicians for Compassionate Care
Liz Smith, MSW
Director of Bereavement Services forThe Community Hospice, Albany NY
Pauline Chen, MD, FACS
Author of Final Exam: A Surgeon’s Reflections on Mortality
Rabbi Kushner
Author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People
Rev Madison Shockley
Minister, Pilgrim United Church of Christ
Sandra Gilbert, PhD
Author of Wrongful Death & Death’s Door: Modern Dying and The Ways We Grieve
Sharon Kaufman, PhD
Author of And a Time to Die: How American Hospitals Shape the End of Life
Stephen Jamison, PhD
Author of Final Acts of Love & California Coordinator at Compassion & Choices
Bob Caren, Diagnosed with lung cancer in 2003. Died 2008.
Katy Powell & Autry Carey, Mother and daughter who were witness to their father/grandfather's assisted death in Portland Oregon.
Jill Edwards, Widowed in 2007 after a 20 year relationship.
Photos
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