Alumni Spotlight: Serene Meshel-Dillman ’85

Written by: Lisa Wartenberg Vélez
April 30, 2024

Serene Meshel-Dillman '85 at work | Courtesy photo


Documentary filmmaker and CAS graduate Serene Meshel-Dillman ’85 wants a groundswell. 

In the summer of 2017, Meshel-Dillman’s mother, Miriam Reiner Meshel '60, received the sudden diagnosis of a rare stage-four spindle cell sarcoma after ten months of puzzling back pain. Treatment might have only extended her life by a few months, if at all.

Meshel-Dillman followed her mother’s journey in the pilot episode of her latest documentary series called Take Me Out Feet First. The title is a reference to her mother’s wish to live in the house she loved until she died.


Miriam, a decades-long social worker for terminally ill cancer patients, was familiar with the kind of suffering she could expect through treatment.

Thanks to California’s medical-aid-in-dying laws, Miriam was able to pass peacefully at her Bay Area home.

“[My mother] taught us that there's grace in being in charge of your own destiny,” Meshel-Dillman reflects. “The California Death with Dignity Act is just that – dignified. Ultimately it is humane and kind.”

Act 39, Vermont’s own Aid-in-Dying Law, is among the most empowering in the nation to patients. In May 2023, Governor Phil Scott updated the 2013 law to abscond with the original residency requirement.

Expanding end-of-life options means easing the path for terminally ill patients across the country.

When Miriam chose medical aid in dying, Serene captured those courageous final moments “with the hope that the exposure will hasten it into law in every state."

 

Serene’s husband of 33 years, Ray Dillman, is the cinematographer and editor of the series. They traveled around the U.S. interviewing terminally ill advocates for medical aid in dying. The two-season series, each comprised of six episodes, will begin streaming on Amazon Prime in May of this year.


Serene's UVM Journey

​A former dancer at the School of American Ballet and commercial television producer, Meshel-Dillman studied Political Sciences at UVM with an eye towards a legal career, like her father, Robert Meshel '60.

Her parents were both Catamounts, as were several other close relatives. Of this, she says, “We’re all from New York, so I have no idea how that happened. We all liked to ski.”

But a love of photography led her to a darkroom course at UVM, one of her favorite classes during her time as a UVM student.

“I have always had a camera in my hand," says Meshel-Dillman. "I spent many hours developing and printing at UVM. I still have great shots and memories from that first course. I continued my photography studies when I spent my junior year abroad in London, focusing on shooting and printing.”

After graduation, she decided against law school. Eventually, she pursued TV commercial production instead; this lured her to LA.

 


Her first documentary, Getting to the Nutcracker, merges her two professional worlds – ballet and TV production.

It provides a behind-the-curtains look at the making of the LA-based Marat Daukayev School of Ballet’s production of the beloved holiday show. It accrued several accolades, including Best Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize at the Atlanta Film Festival, Outstanding Direction at the Las Vegas Film Festival, and Best Documentary at the Kansas Film Festival.

Meshel-Dillman then went on to film The 5th Dementia, a documentary centering on an eponymous LA-based band. Its musicians are from a range of backgrounds, bonded not only by their musical abilities, but by their difficulty remembering much else due to neurodegenerative diseases.

In an interview with Compassion & Choices, a medical-aid-in-dying advocacy group, Meshel-Dillman states that “Each story is unique because each subject, and what they are dealing with, is different. People ask me, ‘Isn’t this topic sad and depressing?’ I find it to be the opposite. I am inspired by the strength, insight and presence of mind that each person I am interviewing possesses.”


Cats Who Care

This latest documentary series, Take Me Out Feet First, overlaps with UVM in another way – in the University's unique offering of an End-of-Life Doula program, something Meshel-Dillman is excited about.

The End-of-Life Doula program was developed by the UVM Larner College of Medicine with partner Cabot Creamery Cooperative in 2017. The fully-online certification program is aimed at those seeking to provide end-of-life care, support, and companionship.

“The concept of having a birth doula caught on many years ago,” Meshel-Dillman notes. “Finally, having an end-of-life doula is being recognized as a way to have support; physically, emotionally and spiritually should you choose it when it’s your time.”

Look for the first six episodes of Take Me Out Feet First's first season on Amazon Prime beginning in May. In the meantime, follow updates on the series at www.outfeetfirst.com and on IG (@take.meoutfeetfirst).

For further information about medical aid in dying in your state, visit Compassion and Choices.


Featuring You

Do you have an interesting alum story – or know a Cat who does? Get in touch. Email Lisa at Lisa.Wartenberg-Velez@uvm.edu.

 

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