2025

Edge of Life

World Premiere.

We all know our lives will end and yet act as if death is a mirage. A pair of palliative care specialists allow renowned Emmy Award-winning artist Lynette Wallworth an opportunity to explore death with calmness, and even joy, through their use of psychedelics in a world-first trial for palliative care patients.

Director

Lynette Wallworth

Runtime

110 Minutes

Country

Australia

Classification

Unclassified 15+

Renowned Emmy Award-winning Australian artist/filmmaker Lynette Wallworth (Tender, AFF 2013) died and was revived when she was 11. This has given her a fascination with death, the last great frontier in human life. We all know our lives will end, and yet - in the Western world at least - we act as if death is a mirage, disappearing the closer we move towards it. Melbourne palliative care specialists, Drs Marg Ross and Justin Dwyer provide Wallworth with a perfect opportunity to explore ways that we might approach death with a sense of calmness, and yes, even joy, by treating terminally ill patients with psychedelic drugs, so that their relationship to death is fundamentally altered.

Psilocybin is not new; it comes from ancient traditions. When the doctors journey to the Amazon to experience traditional medicines, they are confronted by the realisation that the world’s oldest cultures have something important to reveal, not just about medicine, but about death itself.

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Film Credits

Director

Lynette Wallworth

Year

2025

Country

Australia

Language

English, Spanish & Portuguese

Subtitles

English

Type

Documentary & Feature

Program Strand

AFF Investment Fund & World Documentary

Producer

Jo-anne McGowan

Writer

Lynette Wallworth & Chief Tashka Yawanawa

Cinematographer

Bentley Dean

Editor

Karen Johnson

Cast

Dr Justin Dwyer, Dr Margaret Ross, Rosslyn Lam, Flavia da Silva, Dr Bill Richards, Dr Chris Kerr & Chris Wood

Music

Antony Partos with a song by Kaline Yawanawa

Film Source

Jo-anne McGowan & Stranger Than Fiction Films

Genre

First Nations, Health & Mindfulness, Psychological & Religious

Edge of Life Pink Carpet

Pink carpet – from 2:30pm
Screening – 3pm

When: Saturday 18 October
Where: The Piccadilly

Extended Q&A

Two-time Emmy Award winning director, Lynette Wallworth, will be joined by shaman Muka Yawanawa from the Brazilian Amazon, and other contributors to the film for an extended in-conversation and Q&A – moderated by The Guardian Australia's Tory Shepherd.

When: Saturday 18 October following the screening
Where: The Piccadilly

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