Archive of films Intensive Life Unit / Jednotka intenzivního života

Czech Republic
2021, 73 min

Section: East of the West Competition
Year: 2021

Even though doctors Ondřej and Kateřina look after their patients to the best of their ability, they can’t prevent their death. As heads of palliative care at Prague’s General University Hospital they face the inevitability of the end on a daily basis. Yet what perhaps makes their job harder is the myriad options now open to them to prolong human life – and this at a time when death has become a social taboo. Betraying her special brand of empathy, documentarist Adéla Komrzý demonstrates that, while there’s no good or bad way to die, there’s always a means to improve patients’ quality of life.


Synopsis

Doctors Ondřej and Kateřina look after their patients to the best of their ability, but they can’t prevent their death. Nevertheless, the inevitability of the end isn’t the hardest thing they have to face as heads of palliative care at Prague’s General University Hospital. A pilot project has emerged at a time when countless options are available to prolong human life; death is a social taboo and everyone has to confront his own mortality. Aware that a classic profile of the hospital would fall short, Adéla Komrzý submits a profoundly humanistic meditation on the ethics of palliative care. Betraying her special brand of empathy, she documents intimate conversations between doctors and their patients which demonstrate that, while there’s no good or bad way to die, there’s always a means to improve patients’ quality of life.

Martin Horyna

About the director

Adéla Komrzý

Adéla Komrzý (1992). Selected filmography: Television Celebration (2013, doc.), Hotel Atol**** (2013, short doc.), Every Palsy Has Its Silver Lining (2014, short doc.), Teaching War (2016, doc.), Viva Video, Video Viva (2018, doc.), Intensive Life Unit (2021, doc.).

Contacts

nutprodukce
Píseckého 333/15, 150 00, Praha 5
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 731 163 041
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.nutprodukce.cz

About the film

Color, DCP
World premiere

Section: East of the West Competition
   
Director: Adéla Komrzý
Screenplay: Adéla Komrzý
Dir. of Photography: Prokop Souček
Music: Marek Mrkvička
Editor: Mariana Kozáková
Producer: Pavla Janoušková Kubečková, Tomáš Hrubý
Production: nutprodukce
Coproduction: Česká televize, FAMU, UPP
Contact: nutprodukce

Guests

Adéla Komrzý

Film Director

Ondřej Kopecký

Protagonist


Kateřina Rusínová

Protagonist

Tomáš Hrubý

Producer


Pavla Janoušková Kubečková

Producer

Anneta Furdecká

Producer, Service Company Rep.


Mariana Kozáková

Editor

YouTube

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