April 18, 2024

Oscar nomination for film about assisted suicide campaign

How was it nominated?

Oscar nominees have often included films which support euthanasia
and assisted suicide
. This year a documentary short, “The Last Campaign of
Booth Gardner”, seems to be the only one. The editor of BioEdge confesses to
being a bit mystified at how Oscar nominations work, because the film doesn’t
have its own website or a trailer, isn’t even listed on the production
company’s website, and hasn’t screened in a single cinema theatre. Apparently
it will be screened on HBO, but a date has not been set.

The production company, Denver-based Just
Media, specialize in documentaries about social justice issues.

The star of the film is Booth
Gardner
, governor of Washington from 1985 to 1993, heir to the Weyerhaeuser
fortune, and a victim of Parkinson’s disease. He successfully directed the Initiative-1000
campaign to introduce assisted suicide into Washington in 2008 – although
ultimately he would like a law which permits physician-assisted suicide for
anyone who wants it, whether or not they have a terminal condition. Stay tuned.
Oscar hype will help to make the film better known. ~ HT
to Derek Humphry

Michael Cook
Academy Awards
assisted suicide