Independent Documentaries

203 Days

203 Days is a half-hour documentary about one family facing the death of the matriarch. It depicts the family dynamics at work when Sarah, the terminally ill mother comes to live with Kaye, her daughter. Even with the help of hospice both Sarah and Kaye are faced with the stress of family conflicts and daily decisions about pain management, mobility, outside assistance and medical crises.

The viewer sees how Kaye copes with each step of Sarah's decline and how both Kaye and Sarah choose to acknowledge impending death in an age where so much effort is made to distance ourselves from it.

26 minutes 46 seconds

Critical Comments about 203 Days

"It's a brave, intimate, and tender film that shows both the poignancy and the difficulties of a person's last year." 

Marlene Booth, award winning filmmaker

"Gentle & powerful!"

Andrei Brauns, TV Journalist/Producer, Paris, France

"... very powerful, especially for young students in all aspects of caring professions. They do not have any experience with dying, either the human dynamics or the physiology. The film will get them thinking - and it will be good for them. "

Joseph M. Civetta, M.D.
Professor of Surgery
University of Connecticut School of Medicine