Near Death Experiences. Are they the hallucinations of a mind in distress or do people really get a glimpse of heaven? In the documentary When I Was Dead we see three very different people’s exceptional report of what they experienced in the no-man’s land between life and death.
Industrial designer Sam van Haaster, in a quest for freedom, goes on a solo skiing trip to the polar circle in Norway. When he is buried under the metres of snow of an avalanche he caused himself, he is miraculously and unexpectedly saved. Koos van Rijswijk, a thoroughly working-class big-city dweller, tends never to trust anyone until, after a motor scooter accident, he is met by a welcoming committee in heaven. A university trained engineer, Henriette ter Braake, ends up in hospital after a pulmonary embolism. She can’t breathe and as the nurses are running around in a panic calling for oxygen, Henriette suffocates and takes off… Afterwards, life is no longer the same for any of them. The film shows, step by step, how for Henriette, Koos and Sam everything took on a totally different aspect. www.retourtjehiernamaals.nl
Review
DVD
Director
Maasja Ooms & Ingrid Wender
Maasja Ooms studied Fotografische Vormgeving specialized in camera and light at the Film Academy. With Aliona van der Horst she co-directed Ooms ‘Voices of Bam’ and ‘Boris Ryzhy’. ‘When I Was Dead’ is a co-production with Ingrid Wender.
Ingrid Wender founded Theatre Production Company ‘De Bloeiende Maagden’ with Anemoon Langenhoff and Minou Bosua in 1992.
Credits
Directors: Maasja Ooms & Ingrid Wender
Idea & geluid: Ingrid Wender
Additional sound: Wouter Veldhuis & Rik Meier
Camera & editor: Maasja Ooms
Sound Design & mix: Alex Booy
Postproduction: Bart van den Broek
Special Effects: Reinier van Brummelen
Colour Grading: Martijn de Haas
Subtitling: Erik Pezarro
Executive producer: Willemijn Cerutti
In co-production with IKON. With the supoport from Dutch Mediafund.