Short film by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman takes direct look at terminally ill people facing end of life decisions Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, directors of the acclaimed short film End Game, are the latest filmmakers to join the Oscar Documentary Shortlist Roundtable, presented by Nonfictionfilm.com. The event is taking place Sunday (January 6) at the Downtown Independent in downtown Los Angeles. Epstein and Friedman will share a clip from End Game and discuss their work on the film that focuses on several terminally ill patients in San Francisco who are faced with making arduous end-of-life decisions. The profoundly moving documentary, now streaming on Netflix, explores new approaches doctors, social workers and nurses in the Bay Area are taking to assist patients and their families with these agonizing choices. For many of the seriously ill people who appear in the film, questions often center on whether to take exceptional measures to extend life when no hope of recovery exists, or whether to come to an acceptance of death despite their will to live. Epstein is the two-time Oscar-winning director of The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) and Common Threads: Stories From the Quilt (1989). Friedman is a two-time Emmy nominee who directed, with Epstein, the seminal documentary The Celluloid Closet (1995). They will appear at the Nonfictionfilm.com Roundtable with a distinguished group of filmmakers who made the Oscar documentary shortlists (both features and shorts) that were announced by the Academy December 17. Short doc films/filmmakers (in addition to End Game): LIFEBOAT/Skye Fitzgerald PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE./Rayka Zehtabchi ZION/Floyd Russ Feature doc films/filmmakers: CHARM CITY/Marilyn Ness DARK MONEY/Kimberly Reed THE DISTANT BARKING OF DOGS/Simon Lereng Wilmont ON HER SHOULDERS/Hayley Pappas SHIRKERS/Sandi Tan Related: |
AuthorMatthew Carey is a documentary filmmaker and journalist. His work has appeared on Deadline.com, CNN, CNN.com, TheWrap.com, NBCNews.com and in Documentary magazine. |