A dignified death
Eelco choses death by legal euthanasia. A film about his mission, breaking the taboos, but also about intense fellowship and farewell.
The last moments of a man with mental unbearable and hopeless suffering. He is tired of life and choses death, by legal euthanasia. What do those moments look like?
It was Eelco’s wish to record the last stage of his life but also to show the world how his bereaved deal with his death afterwards. His mission: to bring mental suffering and death as a solution into the open in our society. A heavy social mission, but the result is mostly an intimate film about friendship and letting go.
Under strictly specified circumstances, physicians in the Netherlands are allowed to perform euthanasia and assisted suicide at the request of a patient. The criteria include a voluntary and well-considered request from the patient, unbearable suffering without any prospect of improvement, and the lack of a reasonable alternative.
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Jesse van VenrooijDirector
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Jesse van VenrooijProducer
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Tom SikkersMusic & composition
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Olivier NijsSounddesign & mix
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Edwin van SebenColorgrading
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Project Title (Original Language):'t Is goed zo
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Project Type:Documentary
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Genres:care, euthanasia, death
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Runtime:52 minutes
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Completion Date:January 28, 2018
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Country of Origin:Netherlands
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Country of Filming:Netherlands
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Language:Dutch
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Shooting Format:Digital
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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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DOCfeedEindhoven
Netherlands
February 23, 2018
Dutch premiere -
One World Human Right Film FestivalBratislava
Slovakia
October 12, 2018
Slovakian premiere
official selection -
Peloponessos International Documentary FestivalKalamata
Greece
January 24, 2019
Greece
Official selection -
SR Socially Relevant Film Festival NYNew York City
United States
March 20, 2019
North America Premiere
Official selection -
Varna
Bulgaria
June 14, 2019
Bulgarian Premiere
Award Winner
Jesse van Venrooij (1985) is born in Oisterwijk, a village in the south of the Netherlands. Afther his study Bachelor of Social Work Jesse found out the power of the camera and storytelling. He started his own film-company in 2012. Since two years now Jesse started with his first independent documentary's. Key points; personal, high integrity level, documentary's without judgement.
In 2013 I met Eelco at a project called BroedplaatsZ, in which people that needed care started blogging and using Twitter in order to show what their lives looked like. Eelco was one of the three people whom I made a small documentary about. Death was a much-discussed subject and for Eelco it had been his whole life. In 2016 he knew for sure that it was his time to die, because of his unbearable and endless suffering. He did not want to commit suicide, he wanted it the ‘legal way’. Under strictly specified circumstances, physicians in the Netherlands are allowed to perform euthanasia and assisted suicide at the request of a patient. The criteria include a voluntary and well-considered request from the patient, unbearable suffering without any prospect of improvement, and the lack of a reasonable alternative. Because Eelco had been trying to tackle the stigma concerning mental suffering for a very long time, he wanted his last stage to be recorded. And so he asked me to show a beautiful and honest story about his last mission. Because I knew him and supported him, I decided to do so, with dignity and respect. Of course, I do that with my own vision, style and input as a director. I believe that as a society we need to be broad-minded and nuanced on euthanasia. With this work I hope to contribute to that idea. Telling a personal, but also relevant story, without judgement, is my mission. And together with Eelco’s request it is my motivation for making this film: to show the other side.