INTO THE NIGHT: PORTRAITS OF LIFE AND DEATH to Premiere on PBS 3/26

PBS announced today the premiere of INTO THE NIGHT: PORTRAITS OF LIFE AND DEATH, a new documentary from Oscar-nominated, Emmy, Peabody and DuPont award-winning film producer Helen Whitney, on Monday, March 26, at 9 pm ET.

The two-hour film features nine men and women grappling with the universal questions posed by our mortality. How do we endure when we know death is near - with defiance, as Dylan Thomas exhorts us, "To rage, rage against the dying of the light"? Or with gentle acceptance? Clenched fists? With mordant humor? Or, more commonly, with denial? What story gives our lives meaning in the face of death, and will it sustain us at the end?

Death is THE ONE experience that comes to us all. It is the roar underneath everything. "Yet very few of us are comfortable talking about it, even thinking about it," says Helen Whitney. "With INTO THE NIGHT I wanted to explore my own feelings about death, and ask the questions that preoccupy each one of us - especially at 3am. There is great solace -and less fear - in confronting these questions, together. We feel less alone."

INTO THE NIGHT presents intimate, candid portraits of individuals from all walks of life, young and old, for whom death is no longer a far-off abstraction. Each of them has been shocked into mortality-and are forever changed. For some, witnessing the death of others has shaped their life's direction, their world view and their beliefs. Others, facing terminal illnesses for years, confront their imminent end with UNEXPECTED epiphanies. INTO THE NIGHT brings lyrical insight to this often TABOO topic.

These dramatic accounts challenge, unsettle, and inspire.

Among the stories:

Gabriel Byrne, renowned actor of stage and screen, who opens the film with the famous Dylan Thomas poem, "Do not go gentle into that good night."

· Adam Frank, the astrophysicist and NPR commentator who finds comfort in the stars after the death of his brother.

· Caitlin Doughty, the young mortician and bestselling author with a huge internet following, who faced her fears of death working in a crematorium, and is now a spokesperson for the alternative burial and Death Salon movements.

· Phyllis Tickle, the religious historian whose near-death experience shaped her life and her fearless attitude towards her impending death.

· Max More, the cryonicist and futurist who places his hopes in advanced technology as a way to defeat death.

· Maajid Nawaz, a former radical Islamist from the UK who believed that martyrdom guaranteed an afterlife in paradise until he began doubting the rigidity of his dogma, and has since become an international authority on anti-extremism.

· Rev. Vernal Harris, the Baptist minister who, along with his wife Narseary, loses faith after the death of his sons and struggles to find it again.

· Jim Crace, the award-winning British novelist and dedicated environmentalist, who locates his narrative of comfort in the natural world.

· Jeffrey Piehler, the Mayo Clinic surgeon who, at the end of his twelve-year battle with prostate cancer, discovers love and friendship, not legacy and accomplishment, is what sustains him in his final days.

INTO THE NIGHT taps into an emerging movement driven in part by Baby Boomers and millennials seeking greater honesty, openness, and the opportunity to create their own, authentic rituals around death and dying. Featuring the haunting images of renowned photographer Rocky Schenck, INTO THE NIGHT invites us into rare and intimate conversations: the ones we yearn to have, but too often turn away from, until it is too late.

The film was shown at the Austin Film Festival in October 2017 and has received rave reviews. Author Andrew Solomon said "Whitney's ability to wrestle with our most immense uncertainties is astonishing. This is a transformative film for the ages."

Existential psychiatrist Irvin D. Yalom, author of Staring at the Sun, called it "A miraculous and courageous film that is so true, and so deep that it should be required viewing for all mortal beings."

INTO THE NIGHT is dedicated to Ted Winterburn, a collaborator, editor and close friend of Helen Whitney. Diagnosed with a terminal illness midway through their production, he selflessly insisted on reviewing all the footage but died before editing began. His final interview closes the film. "I don't feel the need for legacy. I learned that the joy was in the doing of it."

Funding for INTO THE NIGHT was provided by the Thiel Foundation.

INTO THE NIGHT is a production of Helen Whitney Productions. Directed by Helen Whitey. Edited by Kris Liem. Director of Photography Paul G. Sanderson III. Principal Still Photography Rocky Schenck. Senior Producer Katie Taber. Original Music by Edward Bilous and Greg Kalember. Narrated by Sharon Stone. Distributor KEW MEDIA GROUP.

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