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SPECIAL ADDITIONAL SCREENING OF EXIT: Thursday, November 2, 8pm Q&A with Barbara Combs Lee (Compassion & Choices President), David Leven (Executive Director NY branch), Judith Schwartz (Patient Support Coordinator). Compassion & Choices is America's leading proponent o f assisted dying, offering free counseling and advocacy services. For more information, contact: www.compassionandchoicesofny.org or 212-561- 9175. |
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“Steely and compassionate.” – Dennis Lim, The New York Times “The director’s humane, direct approach says much more about the fraught issue than any political speech ever could.” – New York magazine “A clear-eyed study, which details Switzerland’s innovative approach to helping its citizens die in a manner of their own choosing.” – Steve Dollar, The New York Sun “Explores a taboo topic while remaining respectful of the people it depicts. Director Fernand Melgar creates a compassionate and edifying movie, getting remarkably close to his subjects. Not the kind of documentary that leaves you feeling like you’ve only heard one side of the debate… doesn’t try to simplify the subject matter to make a statement.” – Liza Rose, The Star-Ledger |
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Fernand Melgar’s EXIT is a new documentary that deals with the most mundane and yet most emotionally fraught of subjects: death. Eventually, none of us escapes the ordeal of a parent or friend’s death; inevitably we wonder if fate will be kind to us, or if we will endure a painful and lingering demise. In Switzerland, Exit, a membership organization, facilitates a dignified, swift and pain-free end to the lives of members who are terminal. The film follows the activities of volunteer “escorts” responsible for visiting clients. We hear their conversations, watch them prepare the lethal solution, and in one instance oversee its administration. The humanity and decency with which all this is conducted leaves little wonder that Exit has a long waiting list for membership. Amazingly, for more than 20 years Switzerland has been the only nation in the world to allow legally assisted suicide by groups such as this one. As anyone who has ever raised the subject knows, in the United States it remains one of our last taboos – despite the fact that a majority of Americans support some form of “the right to die.” EXIT makes apparent that the freedom to end one’s life is one that every society owes its citizens. Links: |
Available at Amazon:![]() FINAL EXIT third edition by Derek Humphry |
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Switzerland • 2005 • 76 minutes • In French with English Subtitles • First Run/Icarus Films |