EVENT: SCREENING
CATEGORY: DIVERSE VOICES SERIES
DIRECTOR: SUSAN STERN

COUNTRY: USA
LENGTH: N/A
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GENRE: DOCUMENTARY
RATING: N/A
AGES: 13+ Mature subject matter

Diverse Voices Series Presented with KUED and the City Library

Is it ever rational to choose death? On Independence Day at Stern Ranch in central California, 77-year-old solar-energy pioneer Bob Stern finds out he is seriously ill * possibly dying. Meanwhile, an elderly in-law is slowly declining on artificial life support in a hospital. Bob decides to cheat that fate and take his own life. His family tries to stop him. But first, Bob sets up a video camera. Daughter Susan Stern ("Barbie Nation," P.O.V. 1998) tells the story of her father's quirky, inspiring life and the difficult end-of-life choices faced by an aging population. Part King Lear, part Western, "The Self-Made Man" is a true-life family drama about a controversial issue: Should we control how we die? A co-presentation with the Independent Television Service (ITVS).