A boy contemplates the difference between euthanizing his dying dog and euthanizing his dying grandmother.

When Ioannes was told he needed to do a video project for school based on euthanasia, he decided to bring in thoughts and experiences from his own life. Based on the deaths of his ailing grandmother and his suffering dog, he wanted to come up with a logical and humane way to deal with such a controversial and powerful issue. Whereas his dog was euthanized by injection (the $80 shot), his grandmother was given hospice care at home until she passed. Both events made a strong impression on the young boy. His original plan was to interview hospice workers, doctors and dying patients. But his ambitious undertaking proved to be too time consuming. His next choice was to interview himself and his surviving family members. But in the end, his final choice was to tell his story with cartoon images downloaded from the internet and only include actual pictures of himself as well as a dog representing his dog, Freddie. He decided against using the actual pictures of his dog and his grandmother because it is still a painful area of his life and thought the universal truth was far more significant. He feels that if the three things he outlined in his story were addressed, the need for euthanasia may no longer be necessary. Ioannes’ story reflects what many people go through and he hopes his triumphic message can help others deal with those difficult times with dignity and humanity.

About the Filmmaker

Submitted by Ioannes Palomaria

Ioannes Palomaria is a 14-year-old award-winning actor and independent filmmaker. He attends ICL Academy in Los Angeles, which is the only high school in the country operating out of a working film studio. He has made numerous short films, several of which have won awards and even had one of his films play at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in 2016. His favorite film is Midnight Cowboy, and he hopes to eventually tackle a feature film based on homeless teenagers that would be something like a teenage version of that movie. He loves dark, controversial subject matter, especially if he can shine sympathetic light onto it. He wants to bring a voice to those who don’t appear to have one. And he loves video games.