The Suicide Tourist

The Institute of Mental Health, UBC Department of Psychiatry and Pacific Cinémathèque present:
The Suicide Tourist
Wednesday, April 16 – 7:30pm
at Pacific Cinémathèque
1131 Howe Street, Downtown Vancouver

The Dignitas organization in Zurich, Switzerland, is the only place in the world where citizens from any country can come to receive assistance in committing suicide. Asserting that the choice to end one’s life is a basic human right, Dignitas founder Ludwig Minelli has indirectly assisted in the suicides of more than 500 people from more than 40 countries. The Suicide Tourist follows the stories of several people who have made the controversial decision to end their lives. One of them is 59-year-old American Craig Ewert, terminally ill with a rapidly progressing form of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). The film follows Craig through the last four days of his life as he prepares to leave his adopted home in England for the last time and then travels to Zurich with his wife. We also follow a Canadian couple in their early 70s.  The husband, who has had four heart attacks and is distressed by his declining quality of life, would like to pursue assisted suicide with Dignitas.  His wife of 50 years is determined to die with him, even though she is perfectly healthy. Well received at festivals around the world, including Hot Docs in Toronto and the International Documentary festival in Amsterdam, the film received a Special Mention at last fall’s VIFF from the Canadian Documentary jury, which praised it as “an unflinching, quietly compassionate hymn to life, full of moral complexity.” Colour, DigiBeta video. 89 mins.

Post-screening discussion with John Zaritsky and Dr. Romayne Gallagher.

Mr. Zaritsky, the director of The Suicide Tourist, is a Vancouver-based documentary filmmaker whose works have won more than 30 honours, including a 1982 Academy Award for his documentary feature Just Another Missing Kid. Three of his films, Broken Promises, Born in Africa and Romeo and Juliet in Sarajevo, have been nominated for Emmy Awards. He has also won six Geminis, Canada’s national television award.

Dr. Gallagher is Physician Program Director for the Providence Health Care Palliative Care Program; Co-Physician Director for Elder Care, Providence Health Care; and Clinical Professor, UBC Division of Palliative Care.

Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, UBC.

Frames of Mind is a monthly film event utilizing film and video to promote professional and community education on issues pertaining to mental health and illness.

For more information, see the Pacific Cinémathèque Program Guide.

The Suicide Tourist will be presented at the 10th Annual Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, held from March 7 – 16 at the Olympion theatre in Thessaloniki, Greece. 

The Thessaloniki International Film Festival is the top film festival of South Eastern Europe, the presentation platform for the year’s Greek productions, and the primary and oldest festival in the Balkans for the creations of emerging film makers from all over the world. Founded in 1960 as the Week of Greek Cinema, it became international in 1992, including a Competition Section for feature length films by emerging directors presenting their first or second film.

The Suicide Tourist will be shown twice at the Cleveland International Film Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. Mary Ewert will be available to answer questions at the end of the screening on Friday, March 14.

The following links will register you to attend the screening in question.

Thursday, March 13 at 1:45 pm – SUIC13
Friday, March 14 at 4:15 pm – SUIC14

The Suicide Tourist is showing this weekend at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2008 – Mary Ewert, widow of Craig Ewert, will be appearing to speak alongside director John Zaritsky.

The controversy surrounding active euthanasia has often placed the Netherlands at the centre of international debate. So far, people opting for euthanasia are mostly at the mercy of their governments’ official position on euthanasia. Switzerland, however, offers a way out for those who want to end their lives legally and humanely and cannot do so in their own country. There, a lawyer named Ludwig Minelli who founded the Dignitas organisation. Though bound by strict regulations, Dignitas can also supervise the active euthanasia of foreigners. Although the patients using his institute are disparagingly branded suicide tourists in the press, Minelli is convinced that Dignitas reduces the number of violent suicides that are increasingly taking place, notably among elderly people. In The Suicide Tourist, director John Zaritsky chooses an unadorned TV format to depict the gripping story of two couples. The American Craig Ewert, a terminal patient bound to become progressively paralysed, dies on film. A still relatively healthy American couple living in Greece* want to die in each other’s arms, but Dignitas turns down their request. In the meantime, staff members of Dignitas explain what motivates them to do this controversial job.

* Editor’s note: I believe that the Coumbias family is from Vancouver, making them Canadians; and they are of Greek extraction. If I’m wrong I will be happy to apologize and retract my statement.

Comments at the IDFA site include:

Five stars. A gift from the Ewerts for humanity.

When will the rest of the world have the same compassion as the Swiss, Holland, Belgium and Oregon?

A beautiful film of courage, bravery, love, compassion and wisdom. I feel immense appreciation for all involved in the production of this documentary. Ludwig Minelli deserves a Nobel prize for compassion and wisdom. Thank you all who were involved for this gift.

A film which stays with me and stays with me. Five thinking Stars from Peter Wintonick, POV mag.

On behalf of the Ewerts, I would like to say thank you – thank you for coming to see the film, for keeping an open mind, and for understanding the decision my father made. – Ivan Ewert