You only die once Film competition

Hi everyone, 

I am going to be creating a short 3-5 minute film for the You Only Die Once contest being hosted by Hospice Waterloo Region in collaboration with the Grand River Film Festival. The goal is to make a film that can spark conversations about living well until you die; that life matters right until the end and that how we live at the end does matter.

I want this film to explore how we reflect on our lives so far; things you have accomplished and are proud of, things you would want people to know or remember about you after death, or perhaps are there things you feel still need to be said to your loved ones? We don’t often think about the end of our lives until faced with some sort of significant life event. My hope is that this film will spark conversations about living our best lives today, tomorrow and until the end, whenever that may be. 

How do I plan to do this? That is where all of you come in to play. I want to spend some time interviewing people, ideally across ages, cultures, races and religions. Using select questions from an approach known as Dignity Therapy, I am going to compile different ideas and themes and see what comes from these conversations. Ideally within all of the answers I will have the ability to create a meaningful narrative. 

You yourself would not be on camera in the film. At this point, I don’t even think your voice would be used. The answers would not necessarily be used exactly as recorded; they would be used to form the final piece. If you are interested but would prefer not to have a recorded interview I could make arrangements to provide you with questions to answer and send back to me. I will be asking for consent forms to be signed in the event that I do find a way to incorporate pieces of the interviews into the final film. 

Thank you in advance for your interest in being part of this short film project!

-brian

PS: if you’re interested: Dignity Therapy, in short, “is a recounting of thoughts, ideas and events that are particularly relevant and meaningful for patients to recount and pass along to others...it is an opportunity to share the moments that shaped their lives”. You can find out more here: (https://dignityincare.ca/en/the-model-in-detail.html)