Eat Your Catfish

New Yorker Kathryn has the deadly disease ALS and is completely paralyzed. She can only communicate by pointing out letters with her eyes on a special keyboard and she needs 24-hour care. It’s a horrific situation that Kathryn puts into words incisively and pragmatically. The only reason she hasn’t asked to be taken off life support yet, she says, is that she isn’t ready to say goodbye to her children. She wants at least to experience her daughter Minou’s wedding day.

Eat Your Catfish is filmed almost entirely from Kathryn’s point of view: the camera was fixed behind her wheelchair, and there was no film crew. Filmmakers Adam Isenberg, Senem Tuzen and Noah Arjomand—who is Kathryn’s son—have put together a brutally honest portrait from more than 900 hours of recordings. ALS has not only destroyed Kathryn’s muscles, but also puts a heavy strain on her marriage. Her husband can’t manage to look after her, and the professional care providers are also having a hard time. But helpless as Kathryn is, her critical and humorous spirit remains independent.