August 17, 2025
Sweet Death Wins Film Festival
The new film ‘Sweet Death’ has won 1st prize in the feature documentary category at the 2025 Ierapetra International Film Festival.
Director: Analeine Cal y Mayor
Executive Producer: Viggo Mortensen
The documentary (which began filming in 2015) follows Kathy from Eastbourne in the UK (then aged 81 years) as she travels to Tijuana in search of Nembutal.
Kathy’s trip to Mexico is juxtaposed against the premiere of Philip Nitschke’s stand-up comedy debut at the Edinburgh Fringe with his show ‘Dicing with Dr Death’.
The result is a memorising piece of cinema which superbly balances the black humour of a show that teaches you how to kill yourself with the real life needs of elderly people around the world.
Sweet Death is due for its premiere in Mexican cinemas at the end of October.
As soon as future international screening arrangements are known we shall report them here.
Congratulations Analeine and the team who created this fantastic, funny and touching documentary.
Scenes from the August 2025 Ierapetra International Film Festival
And the winner is …
Analeine accepts award for Best Feature Documentary
Kathy Beech, Analeine Cal y Mayor, Philip Nitschke
Waiting for the Ceremony to Start
A beautiful but windy evening in Crete
Greek MPs came together to formally thank the firefighters for their efforts during the July wildfires which threatened the town
Awards ceremony entertainment
Local traditional dancing
The ceremony was interrupted midway by a large demonstration (as part of national action throughout Greece) against the Gaza war
Protestors approaching the awards ceremony’s outdoor venue
The Award figurine is the Minoan Snake Goddess: a type of figure found at archeological sites in Crete.
Philip & Kathy celebrate Sweet Death & Analeine Cal y Mayor
Analeine captures the special moment with Kathy & Philip
