East of the West Competition 2021 / Jednotka intenzivního života / Czech Republic 2021
Even though doctors Ondřej and Kateřina look after their patients to the best of their ability, they can’t prevent their death. As heads of palliative care at Prague’s General University Hospital they face the inevitability of the end on a daily basis. Yet what perhaps makes their job harder is the myriad options now open to them to prolong human life – and this at a time when death has become a social taboo. Betraying her special brand of empathy, documentarist Adéla Komrzý demonstrates that, while there’s no good or bad way to die, there’s always a means to improve patients’ quality of life.
Doctors Ondřej and Kateřina look after their patients to the best of their ability, but they can’t prevent their death. Nevertheless, the inevitability of the end isn’t the hardest thing they have to face as heads of palliative care at Prague’s General University Hospital. A pilot project has emerged at a time when countless options are available to prolong human life; death is a social taboo and everyone has to confront his own mortality. Aware that a classic profile of the hospital would fall short, Adéla Komrzý submits a profoundly humanistic meditation on the ethics of palliative care. Betraying her special brand of empathy, she documents intimate conversations between doctors and their patients which demonstrate that, while there’s no good or bad way to die, there’s always a means to improve patients’ quality of life.
Martin Horyna
73 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Adéla Komrzý
/ Screenplay Adéla Komrzý
/ Dir. of Photography Prokop Souček
/ Music Marek Mrkvička
/ Editor Mariana Kozáková
/ Producer Pavla Janoušková Kubečková, Tomáš Hrubý
/ Production nutprodukce
/ Coproduction Česká televize, FAMU, UPP
/ Contact nutprodukce
Adéla Komrzý (1992). Selected filmography: Television Celebration (2013, doc.), Hotel Atol**** (2013, short doc.), Every Palsy Has Its Silver Lining (2014, short doc.), Teaching War (2016, doc.), Viva Video, Video Viva (2018, doc.), Intensive Life Unit (2021, doc.).
nutprodukce
Píseckého 333/15, 150 00, Praha 5
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 731 163 041
E-mail: [email protected]
Adéla Komrzý
Film Director
Ondřej Kopecký
Protagonist
Kateřina Rusínová
Protagonist
Tomáš Hrubý
Producer
Pavla Janoušková Kubečková
Producer
Anneta Furdecká
Producer, Service Company Rep.
Mariana Kozáková
Editor
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