Having been through hospice with my dad, and my filmmaking partner having been through palliative care with both his parents, we set out to make a short film that tells one of the thousands of stories that come from hospice. I’m still moved by the care the nurses and staff gave my dad and my family. We hope more people can know about the incredible grace that is hospice and that this film helps explore a topic that we think needs more people talking about. Maybe this film can help someone here going through a difficult time.
A brief synopsis: This film tells the story of Ethan, a teenager whose father lies dying in a hospice bed. Thanks to guidance from hospice nurse Beth, he learns to face the inevitable reality of saying goodbye.
Ultimately, we want to make more of these as an anthology web series, where each story follows a different resident’s end-of-life journey. Beth and other staff would be recurring characters – and perhaps some characters would return (perhaps Ehtan as a volunteer, for example).
We are extremely grateful for the consultation and support of Red Deer Hospice in Alberta, Canada, to make sure we stayed as true to the world as we could. We also filmed on location at Roozen Family Hospice Centre in Edmonton (where we converted one of their community rooms into a resident room).