How to Die in Oregon

Would you want the right to choose when it's your time?

White text on black background reads "Top Ten Audience Favourite, Hot Docs 2011, Outspoken. Outstanding." Flanked by white laurel branches.
SXSW Film Festival 2011 official selection emblem with white laurel branches on a black background, conveying prestige and recognition.
Black and white graphic featuring the text "Grand Jury Prize: Documentary 2011, Sundance Film Festival," with elegant curved design elements.
Laurel wreath surrounding text that reads: "Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2011." Black background.
Laurel wreath framing text: "2011 Winner Documentary Ashland Independent Film Festival." White on black, conveys achievement and recognition.
Laurel wreath emblem for the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2011, showcasing the Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights. Classic and formal.

Synopsis

In 1994, Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. As a result, any individual whom two physicians diagnose as having less than six months to live can lawfully request a fatal dose of barbiturate to end his or her life. Since 1994, more than 500 Oregonians have taken their mortality into their own hands. In How to Die in Oregon, filmmaker Peter Richardson gently enters the lives of the terminally ill as they consider whether – and when – to end their lives by lethal overdose. Richardson examines both sides of this complex, emotionally charged issue. What emerges is a life-affirming, staggeringly powerful portrait of what it means to die with dignity.

Trailer

“Two Thumbs Up!”

– Ebert Presents At the Movies

“'How to Die in Oregon" will likely be viewed...as one of the most historically significant documentaries of this still-young decade.”

– Jeff Shannon, Chicago Sun Times

"At Sundance, there are buzz movies, and then there are the ones that everyone clears a space around and discusses in hushed tones. 'How to Die in Oregon' is one of those."

-Ty Barr, The Boston Globe

"Heartbreakingly Honest"

–Romain Raynaldy, AFP

Bio

HOW TO DIE IN OREGON is Portland-based filmmaker Peter Richardson's second feature documentary. He began production on the film in 2007 and is its director, producer, co-editor and cinematographer. Richardson also directed, produced, edited and co-photographed his debut feature "Clear Cut: the Story of Philomath, Oregon", which premiered at the Sundace Film Festival in 2006. The documentary centers on a rural Oregon timber town where a rift between conservatives and liberals threatens to put an end to a 40-year-old scholarship plan that pays the college tuition for every local high school graduate the town produces. The film won best documentary at the Sarasota Film Festival and was broadcast on the Sundance Channel.

For media inquiries and interview requests please contact: clearcutfilms@gmail.com

Educational DVD

"How to Die in Oregon" examines one of the foremost medical, ethical, and legal issues of our time. With profound intimacy and unprecedented access to patients, doctors, social workers and historical figures, the film offers educators, students and academics invaluable insight into this unique law.

"How to Die in Oregon" is an essential teaching and research tool for:

  • bioethics, philosophy and religious studies
  • health and biomedical law
  • medical disciplines including palliative care, oncology, psychiatry, gerontology, hospice and nursing
  • continuing education programs

This award-winning documentary is also an important addition to all public library collections.

The Educational license grants public performance and classroom viewing rights to universities, colleges, libraries, high schools, hospitals, community groups and other institutions. “How to Die in Oregon” is also available for non-theatrical screenings.

To order, please email clearcutfilms@gmail.com, or visit Educational Streaming through Kanopy

"This film is extraordinarily authentic. It very much captures the difficult and personal decision of terminally ill individuals who pursue physician assisted death. My students were very moved by this presentation."

– Linda Ganzini, MD, MPH
Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine, OHSU 

"How to Die in Oregon is highly recommended for all public, academic, and high school audiences."

– Charles J. Greenberg, Cushing
Whitney Medical Library, Yale University

"The film is very powerful and does a great job of sparking class discussion."

– Dena S. Davis, J.D., PhD.
Bioethicist - Presidential Chair in Health — Humanities/Social Sciences, Lehigh University

"Whether one supports or opposes the Oregon and Washington assisted suicide law, this film is an excellent springboard for discussing and critiquing the values that support them in this particular culture."

– Rev. Dr. Bernard Teo C.Ss.R.
S.T.D. Yarra Theological Union, Melbourne, Australia

"Whatever your position on physician-assisted suicide, you should see the movie “How to Die in Oregon" ...the movie raises important questions about end-of-life care, physician-assisted suicide, and the way in which we as a society deal with (or refuse to deal with) the inevitability of death and dying.

– Sean Philpott, PhD
MSBioethics The Bioethics Program, Union Graduate College, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine

See the Film

STREAMING:
iTunes
Amazon

BUY THE DVD:
Please email clearcutfilms@gmail.com

News:

7.29.11: “Patient look at the American way of deathSydney Morning Herald
6.14.11: “DP/30 Emmywatch: How to Die in Oregon director interview”Movie City News
5.26.11: CBC Radio Interview with director Peter Richardson
5.26.11: Radio Interview: "New Documentary Explores Assisted Suicide"The Takeaway
5.25.11: “What assisted suicide really looks like” Salon.com
5.24.11: “Film director puts human face on assisted suicide”REUTERS
5.24.11: “A Portland director's prize-winning documentary about Death with Dignity comes to HBO”The Oregonian
04.17.11: “How to Die in Oregon” Wins the Center For Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award and The Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
04.16.11: “How to Die in Oregon” Wins Best Documentary at AIFF
02.16.11: “How to Die in Oregon” Recieves Audience Award at PIFF
02.16.11: Peter D. Richardson; A filmmaker shows how to die in Oregon”Willamette Week Interviews Peter D Richardson
02.07.11: “How to Die in Oregon’ Offers Model for How to Die in Montana” —New West Blog
02.02.11: SXSW Line-Up Announced; HTDIO Listed Among Festival Favorites FilmMaker Magazine
01.31.11: “Sundance Award for ‘How to Die in Oregon’” 
Check out Peter’s Acceptance Speech 
Death with Dignity National Center
01.30.11: ‘Like Crazy,’ ‘How to Die in Oregon’ Lead 2011 Sundance Winners” —Indiewire

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