ABOUT PROGNOSIS — notes on living
In PROGNOSIS – notes on living, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Debra Chasnoff turns the camera on herself as she faces terminal illness. With her wife, sons, and community by her side, she creates an emotionally raw, funny, and profoundly intimate portrait of what’s possible when we show up for each other at life’s end.
But this isn’t most people’s story. With an aging population, a loneliness epidemic, and healthcare worker shortages, too many Americans will face their final chapter alone.
Throughout her career, Debra used film to build community. In her final work, she offers one more gift: a beautifully human story that helps us imagine—and plan for—caring for each other during life’s hardest moments.
Since its premiere, PROGNOSIS has reached audiences at film festivals, universities, and caregiver trainings worldwide—including a powerful partnership with the International End of Life Doula Association (INELDA), which uses the film to train end-of-life doulas globally.
Soon, PBS will bring PROGNOSIS into living rooms nationwide—reaching families before crisis hits, when there’s still time to build their own circles of care.
Together with partners like INELDA, SAGE, End Well, and PBS stations, we’re shifting how America talks about death—from silence and fear toward honest conversations about the messy, beautiful work of caring for each other.
Project Team
Director: Debra Chasnoff
Director / Producer: Kate Stilley Steiner
Executive Producer: Carrie Lozano
Producers: Lidia Szajko, Nancy Otto, Joan Lefkowitz
Consulting Producer: Sam Ball
Editor: Mike Shen
Impact Producer: Andra Oshinsky
Communications & Development Manager: Sarah Scannell
Advisory Committee
Kris Kington Barker
BJ Entwistle
Doree Friedman
Joyce Newstat
Rachel Naomi Remen
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