Canadian director John Zaritsky died on March 30 in Vancouver, British Columbia (west), of a heart attack at the age of 79, local media reported on Monday, explaining that they had confirmed the information with his family.
Born in the Canadian province of Ontario, John Zaritsky has a long career of more than 40 years, often addressing controversial topics, including illness, drugs and assisted suicide, while giving a voice to survivors. .
He received the Oscar for best documentary film in 1983 for Just Another Missing Kid, relating to the investigation surrounding the disappearance of a 19-year-old Canadian boy while traveling between Ottawa and Colorado, in the United States. He was also a two-time Gemini Award winner, for an episode of College Days, College Nights in 2005 and The Suicide Tourist in 2008.
In 2008, the broadcast on a British channel of one of his documentaries entitled Right to die? showing the assisted suicide of a man suffering from Charcot’s disease had caused an outcry in Great Britain and revived the painful debate on the right to kill oneself.