Dead keen

A war reporter has seen children die of hunger, seen people shot dead, and looked death in the eye several times himself. But nothing hits him as deeply as his mother's resolute choice for euthanasia. “A person wants to live with dignity, so a person also wants to die with dignity,” she says. Meanwhile, he struggles with disbelief, grief, and powerlessness. ‘Doodgraag’ is a raw, intimate, and true-to-life conversation between a son and his mother, about loving life and loving death. About how close death really gets when it enters your own home. Sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes disarmingly witty, always inexorably honest. This piece wants not only to move, but also to spark the social conversation about euthanasia. From and with: based on the book ‘Memoirs full of life and death’ by Patrick Van Gompel, Paul Govaerts and Patrick Van Gompel (text), Ignace Cornelissen (director), Sonista (technique) and Joke De Wilde (photography). A production of De Kwelm in co-production with De Nieuwe Bazaaar. With support from the Tax Shelter of the Belgische Federale Overheid and CC De Warande.