JUST BEFORE DEATH / LIGE FØR DØDEN

Creative documentary one-off, 71 min., 2023

Life in the time just before death. Director Anne Regitze Wivel has created a beautiful and life-affirming  film about the indomitable staff at Bispebjerg Hospital - and about the last moments of her life with her husband Svend.

14 years ago her husband died after a period of sickness. The couple spent their last time at Bispebjerg Hospital. Now Wivel returns to that same hospital to create an autobiographical and reflective film about life and death - and to portray the people who work in this difficult field. How is it to go to work every day to take care of people whose lives are coming to an end? What thoughts go through their minds?  And how do you make the last chapter for someone else a good and joyful time? Doctors and nurses share their thoughts about the philosophical and practical dimension of their jobs when we follow their meetings. Wivel herself keeps a diary about the last moments of the couple’s shared life and returns to her notes with a gracious and life-affirming story where the present and the past mirror each other.

Director Anne Wivel

Producer Vibeke Vogel

Cinematographer Ulrik Wivel

Editor Janus Billeskov Hansen & Peter Winther

Composer Mikkel Lentz

Sound design Rasmus Winther Jensen

Color grader Anders V. Christensen

With the support of Danish Film Institute and DR TV

Additional support Louis Hansen Fonden, Hospice Fonden, Hoffman og Husmans Fond, Kræftens Bekæmpelse