Sanjay Leela Bhansaali (Writer and Director)

‘Guzaarish’ is a Bollywood film about Ethan Mascarenhas, a quadriplegic radio jockey who faces legal and public pushback after petitioning for state-sanctioned euthanasia. Structured around a legal battle, ‘Guzaarish’ is a comedy, romance, drama, and a musical starring two of Bollywood’s biggest stars. The film introduced India’s cinema-going audience to assisted death.

Shoojit Sircar (Director), Juhi Chaturvedi (Writer)

In ‘October,’ Dan gets attached to his coworker Shiuli while waiting for her to recover from a deep coma. During this wait, Dan and Shiuli’s family have multiple conversations about the possibility of ‘pulling the plug.’ ‘October’ subtly broaches the topic of passive euthanasia, and ultimately affirms conventional beliefs held in India about the sacredness of life.

Sumira Roy (Director)

This quiet documentary displays the daily lives and material reality of octogenarian couple Narayan and Iravati Lavate who rose to prominence in 2018 for their plea to die by state-sanctioned euthanasia despite being physically and mentally healthy. The film humanizes Narayan and Iravati, showing the legal, societal and ethical resistance to their desire to “die with dignity.”

The Fifth Estate (CBC News), Gillian Findlay

This documentary explores medical assistance in dying (MAID) in Canada as Parliament prepares to remove the exclusion in the law that does not allow people to access MAID if their sole criteria for access is a mental illness. The documentary takes a critical stance, introducing viewers to instances where MAID was seemingly approved for non-medical reasons or in reaction to mental health crises.

Peter Richardson (director)

This documentary follows the stories of a number of individuals in Oregon who have chosen to, or are considering, making use of the state’s death with dignity law. Through these stories, it paints the legalization of assisted suicide in an extremely positive light, demonstrating the gratitude and relief of individuals who can legally access medications which will end their lives.

Valeria Golino (Director), Valia Santella (Writer)

In Valeria Golino’s ‘Miele’, Irene illegally assists in the deaths of terminally ill individuals. Her understanding of her work is challenged, however, when she meets Carlo who wishes to die but is physically healthy. The film is more interested in Irene’s internal conflict than in advancing a position for or against assisted dying, yet it nonetheless explores various opinions and experiences.

Daniel Posada (director and screenwriter), Ignacio del Moral (screenwriter)

The poet Carlos Framb wakes in a hospital bed, handcuffed and accused of homicide. He had attempted suicide after assisting his mother Luzmila Alzate to die, which he claims was an act of love. Inspired by Framb’s 2009 memoir by the same title, but with notable differences, this 2024 film turns a real story into a courtroom drama about the individual rights to death and to abortion.

Wendell Cooke (dir.), Jeremy Macey (dir.)

A three-minute documentary film about Gina, a New Zealand woman living with a rare genetic condition that affects her ears, eyes and larynx. Gina’s case has been mentioned in the New Zealand and Queensland parliaments and the film gained over 100,000 views in the years before assisted dying was legalised in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Audrey Parker

In this video statement, Audrey Parker appeals to Canadians to have the MAID laws in place in 2018 changed. Parker felt that she was obliged to receive MAID earlier than necessary due to her fear that she would lose the ability to provide late-stage consent, one of the law’s original stipulations. Audrey’s Amendment was introduced in 2021 eliminating the requirement of late-stage consent.

Harry Macqueen

Tusker and Sam, romantic partners for over twenty years, face Tusker’s early onset dementia diagnosis by taking a road trip around the United Kingdom to visit their favourite places. All is well until Sam discovers that Tusker plans to end his life before he is dependent on others for his personal care.

Thea Sharrock (director), Jojo Moyes (writer)

Following a road traffic collision, Will Traynor is paralysed and in need of constant care. His parents employ a young woman, Louisa Clark, to care for their son and Will and Louisa strike up an unlikely friendship and, later, a romance. Despite Louisa’s efforts to persuade Will that his life is still worth living, he decides to travel to Switzerland to end his life.

Roger Mitchell (director) & Christian Torpe (writer)

Lily, the matriarch of her family, is diagnosed with ALS and takes the decision to end her life with the help of her spouse, Paul. The film follows her as she invites her family for a final weekend together in their beach home, where the different ways in which the family members deal with Lily’s planned death are shown.

Eddy Terstall (director and writer)

Free-spirited Amsterdam resident Simon suffers from cancer and requests euthanasia, which is possible under Dutch law. The doctor complies with Simon’s request. The film represents euthanasia as one of the major achievements of a free and liberal society, with several progressive politicians citing it as a reflection of Dutch freedoms and values.

Matt Day (dir.)

In this short film, three adult siblings come together for their mother’s planned assisted death only to discover that she has changed her mind. A blackly comic look at the coercion that could emerge in assisted dying situations, made as Australia was beginning the legalisation process.

Sue Rodriguez

In this videotaped address to Parliament, Sue Rodriguez, who was dying of ALS and wanted an assisted death, asks ‘If I cannot give consent to my own death […] who owns my life?’ While the Supreme Court of Canada heard her case in 1993 and ultimately decided against her, the publicization of Rodriguez’s story informed much public thinking about assisted dying laws in Canada.

Vincent Fooij (director), Jean-Marie Lorand (writer)

During the last three weeks of his life, former journalist and parliamentary aide, turned assisted dying activist, Jean-Marie Lorand invited filmmaker Vincent Fooij into his home to make a final, documentary testimony of his life. The film attests to Lorand’s physical, mental and emotional suffering and serves as a justification for his much-longed-for assisted death.

Charlie Covell and Ian Weatherby (created by)

A group of schoolfriends reconnect in their 70s at a friend’s funeral and promise to assist each other to die if and when the time comes; when one of them gets cancer, their pact is tested. In the complex drama that emerges assisted dying is used both to explore moral issues and as a plot device in a police thriller.

Florian Baxmeyer (director) and Thorsten Näter (writer)

76-year-old Katharina, who lives in Hamburg, decides to travel to Zurich to take her own life with the help of an assisted suicide organisation. Her daughter, Heike, tries to prevent this through court proceedings, where she argues that her mother lacks the mental capacity to make this decision. But Katharina is able to convince the judge of her mental competence and ends up travelling to Zurich.

Jeremy Ervine (dir.)

After learning that his oesophageal cancer has spread to his lungs, petrol station chain CEO Peter Short becomes the face of an Australian Senate assisted dying bill. This crowd-funded documentary recounts his political campaign, and his (unassisted) death, featuring interviews from Short’s family alongside ones from politicians and activists from both sides of the Australian right-to-die debate.

Tash Christie & Dan Salmon (prods.), Andrew Merrifield (dir.)

This mainstream documentary, produced when assisted dying was illegal in Aotearoa/New Zealand, follows the stories of four people who would like the option to end their lives on their own terms. Its idiosyncratic combination of confronting subject manner and light mood demonstrates the complexity of requests for assisted dying.

Benjamin Kempf (director) and Jann Preuss (writer)

Erika who suffers from cancer and her healthy husband Ruedi wish to die together by assisted suicide. When the lethal drug is ready, Ruedi is overcome with doubt, and the two argue. Ruedi ultimately drinks the deadly substance as well and lies down in bed with his wife. This short film, the first to explore double suicide in organised assisted suicide in Switzerland, is highly ambivalent.

Olivier Nakache (director and writer), Éric Toledano (director and writer), Philippe Pozzo di Borgo (writer)

Based on a true story, this film recounts the unlikely friendship between Philippe, a very wealthy, widowed quadriplegic, and his hired caregiver Driss, a young man living in Paris’ poorer suburbs. As they get to know and come to trust one another, each shows the other something of his way of life, rekindling in the process his respective sense of purpose and joie de vivre.

Jesse van Venrooij (director)

This documentary follows the last three months of Eelco de Gooijer, a 38-year-old Dutch man suffering from severe mental health problems who decided to end his life by euthanasia. The film provides an intimate look at Eelco’s struggle with life, the support he has from his family regarding his decision, and how they cope after his death.

Chie Hayakawa (director and writer), Jason Grey (writer)

In a dystopian scenario, the Japanese government initiates Plan 75, and all citizens over 75 are given the option to be euthanized in exchange for 100’000 Yen to alleviate the socio-economic burden from an ageing population. The film follows elders and administrators of Plan 75 as they go through the steps of offering and accepting the plan.

Gaëlle Hardy (director and writer), Agnès Lejeune (director and writer)

Marking almost twenty years since the introduction of euthanasia in Belgium, this documentary provides insights from the office of Dr Damas, a physician responsible for assisted dying in a Belgian public hospital.

Marcel Ouddeken and Hans Kema (directors)

The documentary film ‘Levenseindekliniek’ revolves around the Dutch End-of-Life Clinic, an organization that specifically deals with patients whose euthanasia requests are complex. The film follows three patients who have requested euthanasia at the End-of-Life Clinic because their own doctors were not willing to proceed with euthanasia.

Stop eutanásia

Through succinct scenes and tableaux, this short film produced by the Portuguese anti-euthanasia group ‘Stop eutanásia’ casts euthanasia as the antithesis to hope, encouraging viewers to ‘say yes to life.’ It was circulated on social media amidst increasing debates in Portugal about legalizing euthanasia in 2021.

Kevin Eastwood (Director and Producer)

This 2016 documentary provides a behind-the-scenes view of the legal team at the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association as they bring the Carter case to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Carter case led to the legalization of assisted death in Canada and this change in the law is presented in a favourable light through the filmmaker’s editorial choices.

Liz Carr (writer/presenter), James Routh (director)

This BBC documentary follows actor and disability campaigner Liz Carr as she explores reasons why assisted dying, which she calls assisted suicide, should not be legalised in the UK. It is unusual both for constituting a mainstream programme that openly opposes legalisation of assisted dying, and for doing so using humour.

Ruth Steinberg

Photo-based artist Ruth Steinberg had been taking pictures of her neighbour and friend, Alma Norman, for years when the latter decided to have a medically assisted death. The intimate photographs from the 5 months leading up to Norman’s death in November 2020 were made public in The Leave-Taking, an exhibit in Karsh-Masson Gallery in Ottawa’s City Hall, in 2023.

Barry Levinson (director), Adam Mazer (writer)

‘You Don’t Know Jack’ recounts the period in Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s life between 1990 when he assisted in the death of Janet Adkins and 1998 when, after assisting in over 100 deaths, he was convicted of second-degree murder for assisting in the death of Thomas Youk. The film portrays the controversial Kevorkian in a very flattering light, as an underdog and hero, and, above all, a caring doctor.

Canadian Partnership Against Cancer

In his video-plea for medical aid in dying, filmed 8 days before his passing from a brain-stem tumour, Dr. Donald Low spoke about his worry over a protracted-out process and his frustration with not being able to decide when to die. Released by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, his frank testimony was widely cited by lawmakers, leading up to the legalization of MAiD in Canada in 2016.

François Ozon (director and writer), Emmanuèle Bernheim (writer), Philippe Piazzo (writer)

Following a transient ischemic attack, André Bernheim, the father of novelist Emmanuèle Bernheim, asks his daughter to help him end his life. This film adaptation of Bernheim’s novel follows Emmanuèle and her sister, Pascale, as they come to terms with their father’s decision and try to navigate the complex legalities that surround assisted dying for French citizens in Switzerland.

Leonard Zelig (director)

Diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, Rubén, an Ecuadorian immigrant living in NYC, decides to forgo palliative treatment and end his own life with an overdose of heroin, assisted by a few friends. Co-produced by Ecuador, Venezuela, and the USA, this film has reverberated differently in the three countries, which have divergent laws regarding assisted dying.

La Maison Simons, Broken Heart Love Affair

The advertisement All is Beauty depicts in a positive light the final days of a woman’s life prior to her choosing to receive an assisted death. It was, however, pulled after news reports revealed that the protagonist had been vocal about the lack of support for her illness, and how this influenced her desire for an assisted death.

Stéphane Brizé (director and writer), Florence Vignon (writer)

Following 18 months in prison, Alain goes to live with his elderly mother, who is living with cancer. Knowing that her cancer is progressing, Alain’s mother decides that she wants to end her life. Although he is initially sceptical, Alain decides to support her decision to end her life and travels with her to Switzerland, where their extremely tumultuous relationship is restored on her deathbed.

Sophia (pseudonym)

In this video statement, Sophia describes her struggle to find suitable housing for her multiple chemical sensitivities shortly before her medically assisted death. The video became a touchstone in disability rights discourse for activists arguing that Canada’s medical assistance in dying regime lacks sufficient safeguards to protect vulnerable people.

Reid Davenport (director)

In this documentary, American filmmaker Reid Davenport tells the story of Elizabeth Bouvia who wanted a legal assisted death in the 1980s in California. Through this case and more recent ones, he shows how decisions around assisted death are complicated for people with disabilities by ableism and a lack of access to care, contributing to ongoing debates about expanding access to assisted death.

Valentina Maureira

In 2015, 14-year-old Valentina Maureira self-recorded a video pleading with Chile’s president to authorize her euthanasia, because she was tired of living with cystic fibrosis. The video went viral, drawing a presidential visit, igniting right-to-die debates, and shaping legislative proposals. Yet, the legislative effort stalled, and Chile’s penal code still criminalizes assisted dying.

André St-Pierre (director), Benoît Dutrizac (interviews), Manon Brunelle (contributor), et al.

The 2004 TV documentary ‘Manon’ chronicles the journey of Manon Brunelle, a Canadian citizen living with multiple sclerosis, as she sought assisted suicide in Switzerland. Her story served as a powerful catalyst for public and political discourse on end-of-life care in Québec, influencing the legislative discussions that led to Bill 52 and to legal medical aid in dying in Canada.

Alejandro Amenábar (director and writer), Mateo Gil (writer)

For almost thirty years, Ramón Sampedro has been paralysed from the neck down. Having had enough of his paraplegic state, Ramón decides that he wants to die and seeks the help of an assisted dying lobby group to generate support for his case. When all legal avenues fail, a small group of his friends help Ramón to end his life.