Memento mori is an evocative cinematic journey alongside the living and the dying, bringing to the screen a human drama never-before captured on film. With remarkable access to Canada’s busiest organ-transplant hospital, we witness one of the most profound experiences in any human life: the loss of a child, and the agonizing decision this tragedy demands. Created by two acclaimed Canadian documentarians, director Niobe Thompson and producer Rosvita Dransfeld, Memento mori grips the viewer in a relentless, emotional embrace—propelling us from moments of unexpected joy to unbearable heartbreak—until the very final frame. An arresting tour de force of vérité filmmaking, immersing us completely in a world few of us understand but which we’ll all one day encounter.

With astonishing access to the most intimate moments of life and death, Memento mori brings viewers face-to-face with stories and characters rarely or never-before filmed. Matthew is the 28-year-old victim of a senseless tragedy, fighting for life surrounded by his shocked parents and family. A floor away, a newborn baby is also fading, while her young parents pray for a miracle. Fathers and grandfathers sit in agonizing limbo, hoping they will have a future with their children if the right organs turn up in time.

High above, chartered jets crisscross the skies, bearing precious organs and teams of surgeons from one side of the continent to the other―part of the fascinating and hyper-expensive system for cheating death that is organ-transplant medicine.

But these considerations are far from the minds of Matthew’s family. They must confront the worst possible outcome to their trial and find, if they can, some goodness in it. Memento mori follows Matthew’s family through the most trying week of their lives, and beyond, to face a strange new reality. They know nothing of the families on the other side of the hospital wall, but the viewer moves from their grief to witness the unspeakable relief and joy that a tragedy like Matthew’s can release.

In a transplant hospital, every facet of the human experience—joy, anguish, pain, and a profound appreciation for the beauty of life and the inevitability of death—is concentrated in one building and let loose to roam the halls. Filmmaker Niobe Thompson was able to capture the human side of transplant medicine in unprecedented detail and with unvarnished honesty. We follow as organs are rushed by air and ground ambulance to the hospital, while the ticking clock threatens to slam the door on these efforts. Through long nights in the surgical theatre, in small meeting rooms inside the ICU, and at the patients’ bedsides, we witness the painful decisions that lead to life—and to death.

Memento mori is a remarkable artistic achievement, managing the dangerous power of un-restricted access to humans at their most vulnerable with genuine sympathy and commitment.

Canada’s organ donation rate is the lowest in the industrialized world – and every organ lost is also a life. For the first time ever on-screens, Vital Bonds gives viewers unprecedented access to the powerful real-life human stories of organ donation in Canada. Following a traumatic brain injury, the family of 28-year old athlete Matthew makes the decision to donate his organs. A two-week old baby girl named Harlow receives a donor heart from the far side of the continent. These are just some of the life and death stories covered with unflinching authenticity to show the lasting impact and major importance of organ donation in Canada.

We’ve all heard about the organ donation crisis. Even in wealthy countries, doctors lose patients who could have been saved with a transplant. In Canada alone, one in four on the lung wait list die in want of a transplant. Over 4,500 Canadians are waiting for kidneys. Every day, four of them die.

For the first time ever, the new one-hour documentary Vital Bonds brings audiences into Canada’s busiest transplant center. Here, viewers witness the human impact of both the giving and receiving of organ donation. Viewers get to see first-hand how the process can affect everyday Canadians like themselves.

The documentary gives unprecedented access to surgeries and intensive care units with unflinching authenticity. It allows viewers to see the realities of life for ICU patients on transplant wait lists. Audiences witness the decision making process around a loved one’s death. They experience the critical, time-sensitive movement of human organs between donor and patient via jet and ambulance – and see a family’s relief upon hearing an organ is available.

The storytelling includes several powerful never-seen-before fly-on-the-wall sequences. One story is the story of a family coming to terms with the sudden loss of their beloved 28-year old son Matthew.  The cameras follow every heartbreaking development as a life-saving struggle yields to tragedy.  Viewers witness the agonizing journey this family takes with their son, and stand alongside them as they confront the fateful decision to donate his still-living organs so that others will have a second chance at life.

Interwoven with emotionally raw personal narratives, viewers witness surgeons and scientists pushing the medical boundaries of what’s possible. While saving lives today, these techniques also offer the promise of solving the organ shortage and ending organ rejection tomorrow.

Special thanks to:
Alberta Health Services
University of Alberta
University Relations
Kidney Foundation Northern Alberta & The Territories Branch 
The Alberta Transplant Institute