Small Planet Documentary Production Company

DURATION: 60 min.

Do today's people have the right to decide when and how they will die? Do those who suffer from incurable diseases and are at the last stage of their life have the right to choose a quiet and dignified death, without unbearable pain and suffering, at the place and time of their choice?

The issue of euthanasia and assisted suicide is usually discussed in a low voice behind the closed doors of hospital rooms and the houses of patients nearing the end of their life. The burden for the relatives and doctors who are each day called upon to make a decision is unbearable. However, it is the patients who face a true Calvary. Apart from the physical pain and distress caused by the idea of the oncoming end, a series of moral and philosophic issues magnify the torment. Meanwhile, the inexistence, in most countries, of a legal framework which clearly defines the "if", the "when" and the "how" one can undergo an assisted suicide, often leads them to extreme choices.

The new documentary by Exandas and Yorgos Avgeropoulos on euthanasia and assisted suicide, on the silent war waged everyday around the beds of dying patients, behind the closed doors of family houses and clinics. A war of ideologies, religious beliefs, world visions and attitudes towards life... regarding the issue of death. Filmed in England, Holland, Belgium and Germany, it records the last moments of people who chose euthanasia, of those who pursue it as a liberation and of others who wish against it.

MAIN CREDITS

Written & Directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos / Research Coordinator: Apostolis Kaparoudakis / Production Manager: Anastasia Skoubri / Research-Interviews: Ioanna Niaoti, Thomais Papaioannou/ Director of Photography: M. J. O' Callaghan, Alexis Barzos, Giorgos Sotiropoulos / Editing: Dimitris Nikolopoulos, Meletis Pongkas / Original Music by Yiannis Paxevanis / A Small Planet production for ERT © 2006 – 2007

TECHNICAL DATA

Original shooting format: HD 1080p25 / Languages: Greek, German, English / Subtitles: Greek, English / Available Versions: Greek, English, International