The Dignity of Breath
The Dignity of Breath explores a revolutionary, holistic, and scientific way of dealing with pain, illness, and dying. This thought-provoking film takes us on a journey through the lives of individuals who are facing life-threatening illness and often, the end of life, supported by compassionate palliative care professionals. We follow a team (and their patients) leading the way in Catalonia, with other teams fighting the odds in Greece, Asia, and Africa to make this crucial holistic medical transformation available to millions worldwide.
A staggering 90% of the world’s population lacks access to essential medicines and pain relief, and this film uncovers global challenges such as restrictive policies on medicines driven by the US opioid crisis.
Ultimately, the Dignity of Breath reflects on what it means to be human while highlighting the importance of compassionate care in helping individuals live with dignity and meaning until their last breath.
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Miles Ethan RostonDirectorThe Subversives, Refugees Who Needs Them?, Game, Brilliance, Bangladesh: Culture of Impunity, God in Government, Make it Real to me? Aliens among us, and many more.
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Jenny Maria LundströmWriterThe Subversives, Bangladesh: Culture of Impunity
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Miles Ethan RostonWriterThe Subversives, Refugees Who Needs them, God in Government, Six days in August, Make it Real to me, Aliens among us, and more.
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Jenny Maria LundströmProducerThe Subversives, Bangladesh Culture of Impunity, Refugees who needs them?
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Project Title (Original Language):La dignidad de respirar
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Project Type:Documentary
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Runtime:1 hour 8 minutes 43 seconds
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Completion Date:February 1, 2025
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Production Budget:147,000 EUR
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Country of Origin:Spain
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Country of Filming:United States, Austria, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Spain, Switzerland, Uganda
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Language:English, Spanish
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Shooting Format:4K
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Digital Cinema Package:Unavailable
Miles Roston is an Emmy-nominated director with over 20 years of experience working with international broadcasters, producers, and talent. He has worked as a writer, director, and producer across Europe, the United States, Australia, Africa, and Asia, focusing on stories related to social and development issues through fiction, documentary, and animation. His most recent feature documentary, The Dignity of Breath, explores palliative care and the global need for medicines. The Subversives, which examines dictatorships across South America and in Spain, was nominated for a Gaudí award for Best Documentary and released theatrically in Spain, as well as airing on public television and international broadcasters.
Miles directed the theatrical feature film Game, starring Roy Marsden and Susan Visser, produced by Kees Kasander (Peter Greenaway). His documentary, Refugees, Who Needs Them? screened at sold-out cinemas across the Netherlands.
Earlier documentaries are: 14 Million Dreams and Make It Real (To Me) for Screen Australia/Australian Broadcasting Corporation/Sundance Channel, and God in Government for PBS (winner of a Cine Gold Eagle) and 6 Days in August, about the effect of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on women and girls in South Africa. He produced, wrote, and directed the children’s television series Aliens Among Us, which ranked as the fifth most-watched children’s television series in Australia.
He is also the author of two non-fiction books. Taking Away the Distance features a foreword by Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu.
He is currently working with producers Thierry Potok (The Constant Gardener, former CEO of Studio Babelsberg/Vivendi) and Stephen Greenwald (former CEO of the De Laurentiis Group) on his new feature film, 24F, a thriller set in Spain where a fascist dictatorship has returned.
Awards: Emmy nomination, ATOM nomination, Gaudi Award nomination, Cine Golden Eagle Award.
Throughout my career in film, and especially having spent over 10 years focusing on documenting the severe impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa, as well as Asia and the United States, I’ve had the privilege—and challenge—of being witness to the deep physical, emotional and spiritual struggles people face as they approach death or confront a long illness.
However, in the making of this film, I discovered something transformative: palliative care. Meeting medical teams and patients who have embraced this science-based but holistic compassionate approach to end care has changed my understanding of what it means to live, even in the face of death. I’ve witnessed people living longer because of the care, patients such as Isabel who is too busy with her writing from therapy to die – 4 years past her prognosis – or the 7 years young boy Yannis in Greece who cannot express himself, yet has the care of his mother and caretakers who can somehow spot his every emotion. We have been with doctors, nurses, social workers, art therapists, psychologists and the families as well as activists. Over the past several years, through our close collaboration with key organizations, we've gained unique access to palliative care teams and their patients around the world. These patients and their families have graciously allowed us to film with them, even during their final moments of life.
Palliative care isn't just about easing only physical pain; it’s about making every moment meaningful, reminding us that every breath counts. Seeing patients and their families find peace, even in such difficult times, has been incredibly moving. After the global trauma of COVID-19, which made death and loss so visible to all of us, and when many only had palliative care teams to ease their way the importance of this care has never been clearer.
This film is not just a story about illness or dying; it’s about life, transformation, and the powerful impact that palliative care can have. My hope is that this documentary will help shift perceptions, showing that even in our final moments, there is room for hope, peace, and dignity. And what I’ve learned from patients is to truly appreciate every moment while we have it. As one practitioner points out, ‘we’re all going to die, 100%.” Knowing that, how do we live?
