Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Facing Death

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross is arguably the world’s most reknowned expert on the process of dying. With Kübler Ross’ full collaboration, Haupt's film looks back on her life and career, from her earliest days as a triplet in 1920s Zurich, to her fame as an international lecturer and writer based in the US. Now in her twilight years, Kübler-Ross is bedbound in Arizona, and awaiting death herself. A truly fascinating film that enables us to re-evaluate our own emotions regarding life's greatest certainty, death. With the addition of archive film and interviews with Kübler-Ross’ sisters and close colleagues, Haupt builds up a rich picture of a remarkable woman who has done so much to make death less of a taboo.

 

RegieStefan Haupt

KameraJann Erne, Christian Davi, Patrick Lindenmaier

TonThomas Thümena, Martin Witz

SchnittStefan Kälin

MusikKlaus Wiese, Peter Landis

OriginalversionDeutsch / CH-Deutsch / Englisch (dt. UT),
 Farbe, 35 mm blow-up, 98 min.

ProduktionFontana Film

Koproduktion Schweizer Fernsehen DRS / SRG SSR idée suisse

WeltrechteFirst Hand Films GmbH

Verleih SchweizFrenetic Films

UraufführungJanuar 2003
 TV-Ausstrahlungen auf SF DRS, TSR, TSI, 3sat

Festivals und AuszeichnungenSchweizer Filmpreis 2003:
Nomination Bester Dokumentarfilm
 DocAviv Int. Dokumentarfilm Festival, 2003
 Int. Dokfilm Fest München, Wettbewerb, 2003
 Int. Filmfestival Locarno, 2003
 Int. Scientific Film Festival, Ungarn, 2003
 Int. Film Festival Molodist, Kiev, 2003

 

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has been widely recognized as one of the foremost authorities in the field of death, dying and transition for over 20 years. It might well be said that she invented this field as an area of legitimate discourse in the medical community. Her now-classic first book, 'On Death and Dying,' is today considered the master text on the subject, and is required reading in most major medical and nursing schools and graduate schools of psychiatry and theology.
Health World Online

[FACING DEATH] is Highly Recommended! Draws with subtle melancholy a picture of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.
Kleine Zeitung (Austria)

A marvelous look at the forces that shaped Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and her life's work ... The strength of this film lies in its honesty. The viewer is privy to the admirers as well as the detractors, the strengths of Dr. Ross as well as her foibles, and with a balanced presentation is then left to draw her own conclusions about this important teacher in the arena of death and dying.
Journal of Psychosocial Oncology

A fine documentary that captures the essance of Kübler-Ross' life and work.
Ingrid H. Shafer, Professor of Philosophy and Religion, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma

[The film showed] all of the negativity she had to overcome in presenting her ideas-yet she persevered ... consumed with passion for the cause. It truly showed how committed she was in a time when there was no care for the dying... And here we are, almost 40 years later, where such care is still so inadequate.
Dr. Fran Hoh, PhD APN BC CPM CS