A man sits motionless across from his doctor, staring at test results as the reality of her words begin to sink in. It's a scene playing out in hospitals everywhere daily, and the topic of the movie Winter Hymns, written and directed by Tomah native Nathan Deming.
The film opens on May 16 and runs through May 20, with two showings each day, 12:10 pm and 5:40 pm. Winter Hymns follows a palliative care doctor, Dr. Linda Vobernik, through one day of appointments with patients facing terminal or serious illnesses.
Set almost entirely in one room, the film features difficult conversations between patients and their doctors as they confront the reality of their diagnosis and eventual demise.
"It's a huge part of our lives that we don't like to talk about," Deming said.
Deming said the film was inspired in part by his father, Dr. Deming, who practiced family medicine in Tomah for about 25 years before moving into palliative care and hospice work in Tomah and Sparta.
The movie is fictional, Deming said, but his father's work helped shape its emotional center. "I asked him about the philosophy of a palliative care doctor," Deming said. "What are you trying to do here? What is the purpose? How would you handle this?"What surprised Deming was how much meaning his father found in the work. "Everybody feels sorry for him because they think, 'What a hard job,'" Deming said. "But for him, he absolutely treasured it. He thought it was the best years of his practice."
The film premiered last month at the Wisconsin Film Festival and has since drawn strong audience reactions. Deming said people often stay in theater lobbies long after screenings, talking about their own experiences with hospice, illness, and loss.
Deming said the post-screening conversations convinced him the subject resonates with more people than he expected.
"We go through most of our lives trying not to think about death," he said. "This movie gives people an opportunity to think about it."
Though the subject is heavy, Deming said he did not want the movie to leave audiences hopeless. The director laughed softly when asked how audiences sit through a movie centered on dying.
"There is humor in the movie," he said. "It's not just all grim. I hope it's a movie that connects people and encourages them."
According to Deming, some screenings have led to extended conversations among viewers in the lobby after the movie. People connect through their own experiences with this subject.
The movie was filmed in Menomonie over several weeks last fall. Deming said the small crew worked long days inside the single room set.
The film also serves as a love letter to Wisconsin. Deming said he wanted to show a version of the state that feels real to the people who live here.
"I want to show a side of Wisconsin that I know, one that is different than the kind of caricature that we normally are shown as," he said.
Deming said the cast is largely from Wisconsin and includes both experienced performers and first-time actors.
One of the film's most emotional performances comes from Thaddeus Sykora, a 22-year-old first-time actor who plays a young lineman.
"That was the one that crept up on all of us," Deming said. "The moment we started filming; we were all kind of looking at each other with tears in our eyes."
Another scene, involving a father reading a goodbye letter to his daughters, still brings Deming to tears when he watches it.
Research for the film included conversations with palliative care doctors, chaplains, social workers, and others connected to hospice care. Deming said he wanted the film to accurately reflect the world of those who help families through some of their most painful moments.
"We made it as a love letter to what they do," Deming said.
At its heart, Deming said, Winter Hymns is not only about death. It is about connection.
"The real thing about grief, or these difficult periods, is that oftentimes you can feel really alone," Deming said. "One message of the movie is you're not alone. Lots of people are going through this, and when we share that pain, I think we can heal from it, too."
If you go
May 15 through May 20, 12:10 pm & 5:40 pm Sparta Cinema 6
https://www.winterhymnsfilm.com/
Watch the trailer
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