Producer Jason Pamer and author Don Piper, on AFTER DEATH
SUCOPRESS/Raquel Laguna. Producer Jason Pamer and author Don Piper talk in this interview about their movie AFTER DEATH, a gripping feature film that explores what happens after we die, based on real near-death experiences, conveyed by scientists, authors, and survivors. From the New York Times bestselling authors who brought you titles like 90 Minutes in Heaven, Imagine Heaven, and To Heaven and Back, emerges a cinematic peek beyond the veil that examines the spiritual and scientific dimensions of mortality, inviting us to wonder: Is there life after death? AFTER DEATH had a historic opening weekend becoming the highest-grossing faith documentary, closing out the weekend with $5 million in box office ticket sales. The film finished in fourth place and is among the top 15 documentary openings of all time. The ANGEL STUDIOS film explores the human spirit, our collective search for meaning, and the eternal quest to uncover the truth about what lies beyond this mortal realm.
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00:00 - Jason, what specific story from the film
00:03 impressed you the most?
00:04 - You know, I think it was the courage
00:09 and the clarity and the compassion
00:14 that everybody shared with them.
00:15 I mean, everybody in the film really bore their souls.
00:18 Mary had this piece of her life review
00:23 where she saw 30 degrees out her life had impacted.
00:26 She only knew people one and two,
00:29 but did not know the rest.
00:30 And for her, it was this moment, this reveal,
00:33 this grace moment where the eternal God
00:36 gave her perspective that your choices on earth matter.
00:39 It makes a difference.
00:40 It impacts way more people than you can ever imagine.
00:44 And until you get to that, the next life,
00:46 you're not gonna have that perspective.
00:48 But if you can live like that now,
00:49 these people give this perspective,
00:51 this unique perspective they were given.
00:53 And if we can walk in that and believe,
00:57 you take their belief and be confident in that,
00:59 I think that's a great gift to humanity.
01:01 - Don, in 1989, you had a near-death experience
01:06 and you know what is life after death.
01:09 How do you remember those moments?
01:12 - What happened in 1989 are my most vivid memories of life.
01:17 They are so crystal clear and vivid in my mind
01:24 and in my heart.
01:26 It really was the beginning of the rest of my life.
01:29 I was a pastor before the wreck,
01:31 was on my way to church when the wreck happened.
01:34 So I was a believer, I was trying to make a difference.
01:38 And yet, when I came back,
01:39 I was in really sad shape for a long time.
01:42 34 operations, 13 months in a hospital bed.
01:46 That gave me plenty of time to think about why I came back
01:50 and why I came back to such a miserable existence.
01:54 And in the hospital, God spoke to me
01:57 and said, "This is not about you, it's about me.
02:00 "And what I can do through you now,
02:01 "I could never do before the truck hit you.
02:04 "You need to turn your test into a testimony
02:07 "and you need to take your pain and turn it into a purpose.
02:10 "Instead of shaking your fist at me,
02:12 "you should reach your hand out to other people
02:14 "because you will now understand how they feel."
02:18 And that's what I've been trying to do ever since.
02:21 - Jason, what can the audience expect from After Death,
02:26 from this documentary?
02:27 - I think people need to show up in the theater.
02:30 We made it to experience with other people side by side.
02:34 You know, we had the tall task of trying to represent words
02:38 from Don and Don in the film says,
02:40 "There are no earthly words to describe heaven."
02:43 It's a visual medium though,
02:45 so we had the challenge ahead of us.
02:47 So we tried to do our best to portray
02:49 what they were describing heaven to be like,
02:50 but then also the hellish near-death experiences.
02:53 You know, 23% of reported NDE experiences are hellish.
02:57 And that shocked me 'cause I had not been exposed
03:01 to those stories as much.
03:02 And people like Howard Storm and Steve Kang
03:05 and Paulo Heida bravely shared, I mean,
03:08 the most tormenting, scary, dark moments
03:11 of their entire lives.
03:13 They shared those and we tried to depict those.
03:15 And to me, it's the contrast of the hope and beauty
03:18 and the pain and isolation.
03:20 In this contrast really is where the beauty is.
03:22 And so as a filmmaker,
03:23 it was a delight to be able to tell these stories.
03:26 - Don, why do you think this movie is very important
03:29 right now at this moment in time?
03:32 - Look at the state of the world.
03:34 Wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes.
03:36 I mean, we have so many things happening
03:39 that the Bible says indicate nearly the end of the world.
03:44 And it could happen anytime,
03:46 like death can happen anytime.
03:48 We're going to take our last breath here
03:50 and we're gonna take our next breath somewhere else.
03:53 And we gotta be ready for that.
03:55 So I think this film is ready for that.
03:59 I think it helps people understand the fragility of life.
04:03 It helps them confront their mortality
04:06 and ask themselves the question, is there life after death?
04:10 Yes, and if so, where am I going?
04:14 I said, heaven's a prepared place for prepared people.
04:18 So they need to be prepared.
04:20 And "After Death" is set up to ask that question.
04:25 And hopefully people will be answering it,
04:28 if not in the theater, on their way to the car.
04:31 That's the urgency of it.
04:33 And it's an urgent movie.
04:34 I think it's incredibly powerful.
04:37 - Jason, what have you learned
04:39 working on a project like this?
04:40 - So I grew up with a faith that told me
04:44 there is an afterlife.
04:46 But if I'm honest, if someone would have told me
04:48 I died and I experienced this, I would have been skeptical.
04:51 And it wasn't until the last five years of making this
04:54 and sitting across and being behind the scenes
04:57 in the back of a van with these people
04:59 and understanding that they are the most authentic, real.
05:03 And I said this earlier today on another interview,
05:06 that these are the most present people.
05:09 That they've had New York time bestsellers,
05:12 they've been around the world.
05:13 They speak to tens of thousands
05:15 and yet they're the most present.
05:17 And to me, this is something I wanna learn from
05:21 and glean from, the ability to stay fully present.
05:23 Because ultimately they know what matters.
05:25 And they know when you look back
05:26 and reflect on the life here,
05:28 how should we act and how should we treat those around us?
05:33 And so I've been deeply encouraged and profoundly moved
05:37 by the faith that they've had
05:39 and then the corroborative evidence
05:40 that comes around the afterlife.
05:42 I mean, it's really strengthened
05:43 and it's given me a firm foundation.
05:46 - Don, did you ever lose hope?
05:48 - And there've been opportunities
05:52 to do just that, lose hope.
05:54 Last year, our 46 year old daughter died of kidney cancer.
06:00 So after all these years of me having been killed
06:04 in a car wreck and then trying to bring hope to people,
06:07 I've actually, believe it or not,
06:09 been called the minister of hope.
06:12 We lose our daughter.
06:13 She and I talked about heaven many times.
06:15 She had heard me speak about heaven many times.
06:17 And so we had hope, even in the midst of that,
06:21 most difficult thing that I can imagine,
06:23 the loss of one of your children.
06:25 We had hope because we know what happens next.
06:28 Heaven is real and we believe that Jesus is the way.
06:32 So she was prepared.
06:34 Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people.
06:37 There is hope.