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SevenPonds / Preparing for Death & Terminal Illness Movies

Preparing for Death & Terminal Illness Movies

When facing life’s end, these films provide insight into the journey ahead. They explore difficult conversations, treatment choices, and finding peace during final days with honesty, hope, and human dignity.

In the documentary's cover image, two women -- one, an older African American woman wearing a clerical collar, the other is a white woman wearing a doctor's coat and stethoscope around her neck -- are walking down a hospital corridor, looking at each other.

“The Chaplain and the Doctor”

By Jessica Zitter

At first glance, the film might seem like a set-up for the “unlikely buddy” trope so popular in comedic action movies. I…

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"Dying Young"

By Joel Schumacher

I appropriately write this review as our blog writer Katie drives from San Francisco to Orange County today to be with h…

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"American Symphony"

By Matthew Heineman

“American Symphony” follows two beloved, creative public personas through their relationship highs and lows: Suleika Jao…

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my sisters keeper movie poster with girl blwoing bubbles

"My Sister's Keeper"

By Nick Cassavetes

“My Sister’s Keeper” is not for the faint of heart. Directed by Nick Cassavetes and based on Jodi Picoult’s bestselling …

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“Documenting Death”

By Sara Joe Wolansky

At age 54, Kathy Brandt was diagnosed with late-stage ovarian cancer. She knew that treatment would be futile against th…

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Poster for the movie "After The Rain."

"After the Rain"

By Daniel Bonjour

“After the Rain” is a touching film about one man’s final days with cancer. It chronicles the struggles he has with his …

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"We're All Going to Die"

By Stefan Hunt

In 2017, Stefan Hunt was facing an existential crisis. A filmmaker with an enviable career that allowed him to travel al…

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"Defining Hope"

By Carolyn Jones

“Defining Hope,” a 2017 documentary from director Carolyn Jones, explores the ways that hospice and palliative care can …

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Mary Jo and George Steger in Stage Four: A Love Story

“Stage Four: A Love Story”

By Benjamin Steger

On the surface, “Stage Four: A Love Story” is a touching documentary about a Midwestern couple in their sixties whose qu…

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Man: Living While Dying

"Living While Dying"

By Cathy Zheutlin

The point of Cathy Zheutlin’s poignant documentary, “Living While Dying”, is best expressed by the quote which opens the…

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“We Were Here”

By David Weissman and Bill Weber

No health crisis in modern times has approached the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and ’90s in scope or impact. In the two d…

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"Passing On"

By Arizona Public Media

While 92 percent of Americans say it’s important to discuss their wishes for end-of-life care, only 32 percent have had …

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"End Game"

By Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman

Netflix tested the boundaries of conventional entertainment and released the short documentary, Extremis, a movie about …

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"Indestructible"

By Ben Byer

Ben Byer died of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) on July 3, 2008. He was 37 years old. Ben was di…

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"The Bucket List"

By Rob Reiner

“The Bucket List” is not only a comedic buddy movie, but also a unique and thought-provoking look at terminal illness. M…

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"Miss You Already"

By Moreweena Banks

These words, spoken by a wig maker to the best friend of a of middle-aged cancer patient who is about to have her head s…

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"Fight To Live"

By Barbara Kopple

“Fight To Live” is a 2012 documentary that highlights the shortcomings of the drug approval system employed by the U.S. …

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“Serving Life”

By OWN TV and Lisa R. Cohen

Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana has a long held and justly deserved reputation as one of the roughest prisons in …

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"My Last Days"

By Justin Baldoni

The cable network The CW has an online documentary series called “My Last Days.” It tells the stories of people living w…

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"So Much So Fast"

By Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan

At age 29, master architect Stephen Heywood thought he had decades left to settle down, start a family, and build incred…

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"Brother's Keeper"

By Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky

Delbert and William Ward were brothers, living together in a tiny family farm house in the middle of rural Munnsville, N…

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"Filming My Father In Life And Death"

By Liz Tucker

Fifty-one year old Steven Isaac is diagnosed with motor neuron disease and given only two years to live. Directed by Liz…

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"Beaches"

By Garry Marshall

Beaches is Garry Marshall’s 1988 adaptation of Iris Rainer Dart’s novel of the tumultuous but unbreakable friendship be…

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"Dying Wish"

By WordWise

In 2007, retired surgeon Michael Miller was dying of end-stage cancer and was determined to avoid the extended pain of t…

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"50/50"

By Jonathan Levine

50/50 is a 2011 biopic that explores the trials of facing terminal illness with candor and without over-dramatization. B…

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"Five"

By Lifetime TV

“Five” begins with the short film “Charlotte,” directed by Demi Moore. This impressionistic piece is told almost entirel…

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"How to Die in Oregon"

By Peter Richardson

Peter Richardson’s documentary How to Die in Oregon, which premiered last night on HBO, is not easy viewing. Throughout …

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