Domian - Interview mit dem Tod
Germany 2015

Opening 5 Nov 2015

Directed by: Birgit Schulz
Writing credits: Jürgen Domian

Jürgen Domian has been doing a night time radio talk show for 20 years. Every night he deals with the subject of death. His callers have had various experiences with death and call to tell their stories. He has discussed death with businessmen, housewives, parents, even with a murderer. The only one he hasn’t talked to is death itself. The documentary starts and ends with an inner discussion between Domian and death. What can death teach us? How does it change someone who has come into close contact with death?

Several of his callers and listeners share with us their stories through actual phone calls and interviews. Domian himself is a gentle, intellectual being whose ability to listen allows his callers to open up about what they have experienced and sometimes also to explore how and why death has affected them. Can the power of someone who listens help to heal the pain/suffering that comes attached with death? We hear the stories of a man who works for a suicide hotline and is on the phone when a young mother jumps in front of a train. There is the story of a man who killed his neighbor years ago and the story of a woman who suffered abuse from her husband for 40 years and is happy that he has died.

“Death is the biggest mystery in our lives,” says Jürgen Domian. From the film we learn who Domian is as a person and how he has been able to talk about death for 20 years and still remain sane and healthy. This is a documentary which will stay in your thoughts for a while, and you may find yourself questioning your own relationship with life and death. (Alana Leichert)