A rare genetic disorder has left Gina confined to a quiet, darkened bedroom because sound and light harm her ears and eyes. Her muscles have deteriorated, leaving her in severe pain and unable to speak. She communicates using a touch-alphabet method, and the message she sends is clear: she wants to pursue voluntary euthanasia. In this moving short documentary for New Zealand’s Loading Docs initiative, Gina explains her decision, and argues for her right to choose and plan a peaceful, humane death.
A moving argument for one woman’s right to choose when and how she dies
Director: Wendell Cooke
Producer: Jeremy Macey
20 July 2015
videoAddiction
After 17 years of addiction, Raina finds a lifeline in compassion
15 minutes
videoEthics
A deathbed scenario raises the question: how much power should a promise hold?
5 minutes
videoConsciousness and altered states
How an artist learned to ‘co-live’ with the distressing voice in her head
6 minutes
videoLife stages
Grief, healing and laughter coexist at a unique retreat for widows and widowers
15 minutes
videoWellbeing
Children of the Rwandan genocide face a unique stigma 30 years later
20 minutes
videoMeaning and the good life
Wander through the English countryside with two teens trying to make sense of the world
10 minutes
videoLove and friendship
For two brothers who rely on one another, love is a daily act of devotion
11 minutes
videoBiology
An elegy for a dying microbe explores what we really mean by ‘death’
9 minutes
videoLife stages
What Michelangelo’s late-in-life works reveal about his genius – and his humanness
13 minutes