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- DirectorDavid FranceStarsPeter StaleyLarry KramerIris LongThe story of two coalitions -- ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) -- whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition.
- DirectorRobert KennerStarsMichael PollanEric SchlosserRichard LobbAn unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry.
- DirectorMorgan SpurlockStarsMorgan SpurlockDaryl IsaacsChemeeka WalkerWhile examining the influence of the fast food industry, Morgan Spurlock personally explores the consequences on his health of a diet of solely McDonald's food for one month.
- DirectorRon FrickeStarsBalinese Tari Legong DancersNi Made Megahadi PratiwiPuti Sri Candra DewiFilmed over nearly five years in twenty-five countries on five continents, and shot on seventy-millimetre film, Samsara transports us to the varied worlds of sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes, and natural wonders.
- DirectorPeter NicksStarsSean BennettGo behind the doors of an American public hospital struggling to care for a community of largely uninsured patients.
- DirectorMathieu RoyHarold CrooksStarsRonald WrightMark LevineRobert WrightTheorists consider the evolution of human society and question the sustainability of the current paradigm.
- DirectorTom ShadyacStarsTom ShadyacDesmond TutuNoam ChomskyDirector Tom Shadyac speaks with intellectual and spiritual leaders about what's wrong with our world and how we can improve both it and the way we live in it.
- DirectorLéa PoolBreast cancer has become the poster child of corporate cause-related marketing campaigns. Countless women and men walk, bike, climb and shop for the cure. Each year, millions of dollars are raised in the name of breast cancer, but where does this money go and what does it actually achieve? Pink Ribbons, Inc. is a feature documentary that shows how the devastating reality of breast cancer, which marketing experts have labeled a "dream cause," becomes obfuscated by a shiny, pink story of success.
- DirectorAlastair FothergillMark LinfieldStarsTim AllenMeet adorable young chimp Oscar and his fellow mayhem-creating buddies, who see the world as their playground. Full of curiosity, joy and a love for mimicking others, these are some of the most extraordinary personalities in the jungle.
- DirectorSusan FroemkeMatthew HeinemanStarsClive AlonzoDon BerwickElizabeth BlackburnAn investigative documentary that uncovers the U.S. healthcare system's true design.
- DirectorBill HaneyStarsPaul NewmanChristopher HartleyOn the Caribbean island of the Dominican Republic, tourists flock to pristine beaches, with little knowledge that a few miles away thousands of dispossessed Haitians are under armed guard on plantations harvesting sugarcane, most of which ends up in US kitchens. Cutting cane by machete, they work 14 hour days, 7 days a week, frequently without access to decent housing, electricity, clean water, education, healthcare or adequate nutrition. The Price of Sugar follows a charismatic Spanish priest, Father Christopher Hartley, as he organizes some of this hemisphere's poorest people, challenging the powerful interests profiting from their work. This film raises key questions about where the products we consume originate, at what human cost they are produced and ultimately, where our responsibility lies.
- DirectorNimisha MukerjiStarsVinay ShettyBlood Relative is a cinema verite documentary that follows the remarkable story of Indian activist Vinay Shetty who is fighting to save two children who are dying from the rare disease Thalassemia. As a result of not being able to afford the life-saving medication, fourteen year old Divya and twenty-four year old Imran have severely stunted growth and remain trapped in the bodies of children. Chronicling Vinay's battle against the Indian government to get Divya and Imran free medical treatment, the film gets unprecedented access into modern India's broken healthcare system. Caught in the middle are Vinay and the children he must look after who are bound together by ties stronger than blood.
- DirectorDana OffenbachStarsHarold ForsytheJose SuarezDavid TruemanLike clean water and unadulterated food and drugs, adequate healthcare is a condition of civilized life. As a nation, we worked to guarantee that Americans are protected against contaminated food and water. These chiefly 20th Century reforms were aimed at improving the health of the American people. Yet, again we find ourselves in a health crisis. The time has come to broaden our conception of public health policy to include the entirety of the delivery of health services. We are a group of non-partisan concerned citizens producing a documentary film which will engage the research and opinions of some of the smartest people our country doesn't know and present viable options for universal healthcare. We will be speaking with professors, doctors, Rhode Scholars and other critical thinkers to present one or several viable plans that will ensure proper healthcare for all Americans. This is a not for profit endeavor and we are raising the money through tax deductible donations. Visit our site at www.usainicu.org
- DirectorMichael Oved DayanStarsIsaac SobolJonathan AwerbuckAri BacharachOn a doctor's philanthropic journey to give to the people of Tibet, he receives more than he could ever imagine.
- DirectorJames EspinasBloodlines chronicles the 2003 medical mission of the Philippine Medical Society of Northern California (PMSNC). Volunteer doctors, nurses and support staff travel to Iloilo, a province in central Philippines, to serve an impoverished community that lacks access to basic healthcare. Working with limited time and resources, the volunteers struggle to meet the needs of thousands of patients, experiencing moments of inspiration and heartbreaking choices along the way.
- DirectorBarbara AllenThe film's title, a play on words for people whose language is American Sign Language, is about a group of Deaf breast cancer survivors (the Pink Deafies) who struggle with communication in the hearing-dominated, health-care system, where patient/provider communication can mean life or death. The film provides a glimpse into the diversity within the Deaf community through the stories of five women and follows the inspiring story of Anita, a two-time cancer survivor and founder of the only support group for Deaf women in the country. During filming, Anita and her family unexpectedly learn the real truth of her prognosis some 25 years ago and also must face the realities of a previously unknown genetic mutation that will change their lives forever.
- DirectorLiz MerminJenny RaskinA small number of healthcare professionals in this country have become targets in a civil war. They receive little public support for their work and face dedicated and unpredictable opponents. Their ranks are shrinking. On Hostile Ground enters the lives of three abortion providers to reveal the obstacles (practical, legal, and emotional) that they face everyday, and shows them struggle with the decision to perform this procedure. It allows providers who work on hostile ground to tell their stories by being themselves, without the help of a narrator. They reveal what their professional decision has done to their personal and family lives. While they each have their own stories, they are all driven more by personal experiences and spiritual beliefs than by political conviction. They each express anger, confusion, and resentment in their own way. By weaving together three very different character portraits, this documentary takes an unusual approach to a volatile social conflict, portraying abortion through the personal stories of those who are in mortal danger because they provide it.
- DirectorLucy WillisA look at the confrontational world of the talkshow. A range of participants talk at how the system abuses, manipulates and exploits psychologically damaged people in search of ratings. The film contrasts the dangers of the talkshow circuit with the work of Jamie Husyman a clinical therapist who is a strong proponent of talkshows as a route to therapy. He offers a solution called Aftercare in which people who have appeared on the talkshow are offered free treatment in healthcare facilities.
- DirectorCarol LiuStarsJuncheng LiCaixia LiRongrong WangA rural eye doctor helps under-served villagers in rural China regain their sight and restore their lives.
- DirectorJohn FreidahG. Wayne MillerCecilia PréstamoStarsBob KerrIn the decade since the attacks on Sept. 11th, 2001, more than 6000 American lives have been lost in the War on Terror. Thousands more have returned with psychological damage - forever changed. Leading up to the ten-year anniversary of the War on Terror, The Providence Journal launched an effort to examine the war's impact on veterans and their families. The result was an eight-part series, which ran in the paper and on the web from Oct. 2, 2011, to Nov. 7, 2011, and culminated in a feature-length video documentary about four veterans. These veterans share stories of their combat experiences and the lives they have led since returning to a civilian world, far removed from the battlefield. Their experiences and the insight of health-care professionals illustrate the human toll of a war fought by a tiny fraction of Americans serving in an all-volunteer military. On Dec.18, the last American combat troops left Iraq, but some 91,000 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan. The war on terror continues. So, too, do the needs of veterans -- and they are growing. Projections show that by the year 2020, nearly 1.5 million veterans of the war will be enrolled in the nationwide VA health-care system, more than double those enrolled in 2011. In The War on terror: Coming Home, Army veteran Derek Pelletier and National Guard veterans John DiRaimo, Brian Santos and Sean Judge describe the difficulties of reentry into civilian life. Massachusetts native Pelletier, twice honored with the Bronze Star, continues to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. DiRaimo, of Rhode Island, has found help from the Providence VA Medical Center. And Judge and Santos, who served together, have followed two different paths. It is their voices and personal stories that bring home the aftermath of war, to a public largely removed from the price of a nation at war.
- DirectorKai De Mello-FolsomStarsRae-ann SmithVanessa WolfOffers an on-the-ground look at the idea of Microfinance used as a tool for creating change in a third-world country through the direct work of Non-Profit and NGO WomensTrust Inc.
- DirectorTimothy FarrellStarsFrank ButlerRobyn HussaPascaline Servan-SchreiberIn the second segment of Tim Farrell's documentary, a small group of practitioners trained in an ancient form of Chinese field medicine embark on a rugged trek to their final destination of Lomanthang. Beginning in the crowded streets of Kathmandu, the healers, in the service of the Global Alternative Healthcare Project, ascend to remote mountain villages in Upper Mustang, a Nepalese enclave of the high Tibetan plateau. Armed only with bags of herbs and needles, the doctors battle the elements to offer urgent care to individuals isolated geographically and financially. The film is a story about health, healing and the powerful lessons of generosity that transcend borders and boundaries.
- DirectorBrian VadimStarsBrian VadimA strange love story Silent film witch is intertwined with today's current events. R.O.P.G 2.0 takes on the right wing and their opposition to public health-care. This fantasy world of Eggbone city filled with strange and bazaar characters including, Mr. Sprinkles, Bed Head and The Mayor's Son give Wolfgang the fight of his life....will he rescue plastic girl? Hope doesn't disappoint....
- DirectorMichael SeringerRogelio Zamora ChavezDiabetesville, USA tells the story of Cameron County, Texas, a region of the country suffering a healthcare crisis so severe it is affecting 30 percent of the total population. Diabetes and obesity have become so commonplace along the Texas/Mexico border, they have lulled the community into acceptance. More importantly, this film gives the nation a window into the future as recent estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that by the year 2050, the rest of the nation will look like Diabetesville, USA, does today. A provocative film, Diabetesville, USA examines the healthcare system, culture and response of a community trying to move from complacency to action in fighting obesity and diabetes. This film is a cautionary tale that brings to light shocking issues such as the huge increase in Type II diabetic children in South Texas.
- DirectorJanks MortonThe lifelong effects of fatherlessness on women.
- DirectorNicholas HolthausChris ValentineStarsNicholas HolthausProvocative national filmmakers Nico Holthaus and Chris Valentine ask: What the hell is going on in Montana? Holthaus was drawn to the beautiful Bitterroot Valley in May, 2009. Spurred on by allegations of police brutality and ineptitude, political conspiracy and corruption, from Montana's bids for a new Guantanamo Bay facility and Senator Baucus's national Healthcare Reform plan--apparently funded by the largest pharmaceutical and insurance corporations at the expense of the average American--and many other claims, Holthaus had to see for himself. The little town of Hamilton, MT, USA has it all. Rock stars, cops, politicians, militia, fishermen, farmers, realtors, retirees: not one seems to be willing to listen to another. The result is an explosive division on every imaginable level. Hamilton is America.
- DirectorKai De Mello-FolsomStarsRae-ann SmithVanessa WolfThis film offers an on-the-ground look at the idea of Microfinance used as a tool for creating change in a third-world country through the direct work of Non-Profit and NGO WomensTrust Inc. WomensTrust's mission is to empower women and girls in Pokuase, Ghana, through microenterprise, education, and healthcare, and to inspire others to do the same elsewhere.
- StarsJohn J. FowlerA young man struggles with a rare and debilitating mysterious disease and documents his struggles to find out what is happening to his body.
- DirectorMessiah RhodesA sea of people from different walks of life, take over the New York state capitol building and make their voices be heard through out the night. As a new state budget is passed that promises more burden on the working poor, in a state that already has the greatest wealth inequality gap in America. make their voices heard, as they take over the New York state capitol building over one night as a drastic cuts against public education, health-care, an
- DirectorMitch SchultzStarsJoe RoganRalph AbrahamJoel BakstAn investigation into the long-obscured mystery of dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a molecule found in nearly every living organism and considered the most potent psychedelic on Earth.
- DirectorSteve JamesStarsChris NowinskiGene AtkinsLaura BalcerA documentary that follows football player and pro-wrestler Chris Nowinski's quest to uncover the truth about the consequences of sports-related head injuries.
- DirectorKaspar Astrup SchröderStarsYoshiro NakamatsThe film is about the utterly fantastic and eccentric 80-year-old Japanese inventor responsible for 3,357 inventions, including the floppy disk. NakaMats is an unlikely character made for the movies, with his deadpan English and impeccable comic timing providing nonstop laughs. About his Love Jet potion, he says: "I've tested more than 10,000 women. Of course, I'm not doing the sex. I'm checking meters." At a conference, he leads a sing-along of a ditty he penned to memorialize the seven hours of snow shoveling he once did to get to a university class. Utterly nutty, but also a paean to the spirit of human invention.
- DirectorGreg BeckerStarsAdam DreamhealerArielle EssexPeter FraserOur film, The Living Matrix - The Science of Healing, uncovers new ideas about the intricate web of factors that determine our health. We talk with a group of dedicated scientists, psychologists, bioenergetic researchers and holistic practitioners who are finding healing potential in new places. The documentary brings together academic and independent researchers, practitioners, and science journalists whose work reveals scientific evidence that energy and information fields, not genetics, control health and wellbeing. These include internationally known healer, Dr. Eric Pearl; cellular biologist and former Stanford University professor Dr. Bruce Lipton; author Lynne McTaggart, and former U.S. astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell, among others. Through in-person interviews and dramatized video vignettes that document the stories of people who recovered from chronic illness - including a five-year-old boy born with cerebral palsy, an osteopathic doctor with a brain tumor, and a housewife bedridden with chronic fatigue syndrome - the film demonstrates the effectiveness of bioenergetic medicine where traditional medicine has not succeeded.
- DirectorWayne CheslerThe Film tells the grim tale of the half century War on Cancer and focuses on the character of Thomas Navarro. In 1999, the four year old boy was diagnosed with brain cancer and thrust into the system of Surgery, Chemo and Radiation and not allowed to be treated with a proven method by Texas Doctor Stanislaw Burzynski. The war between the Navarro Family and the FDA is perhaps this country's greatest evidence as to why there should be medical freedom and how since the War on Cancer began in 1971, the war is still failing in 2009.
- DirectorArthur F. BinkowskiChad CohenStarsCraig SechlerSteven TylerDiana CherkasNational Geographic: Incredible Human Machine takes viewers on a two-hour journey through an ordinary, and extraordinary, day-in-the-life of the human machine. With stunning high-definition footage, radical scientific advances and powerful firsthand accounts, Incredible Human Machine plunges deep into the routine marvels of the human body. Through 10,000 blinks of an eye, 20,000 breaths of air and 100,000 beats of the heart, see the amazing and surprising, even phenomenal inner workings of our bodies on a typical day. And explore striking feats of medical advancement, from glimpses of an open-brain surgery to real-time measurement of rocker Steven Tyler's vocal chords.
- DirectorMartin WitzStarsTrevor J. RolingHanspeter MüllerMario ScarabelliIn 1943, Albert Hofmann discovered LSD. Fractions of a milligram are enough to turn our framework of time and space upside down. The story of a drug - its discovery in the Basel chemistry lab, the first experiments by Albert Hofmann on himself, the 1950s experiments of the psychiatrists, the consciousness researchers, the artists. Could it actually be possible to find a path to the core of our human existence by means of a chemical? Spirituality at the flick of a switch? Do the enigmatic effects of this drug really help us to better understand the human soul? Could LSD be an instrument of contemporary psychiatry? Of modern brain research?
- DirectorDoug DearthHaving faced the confines of the American health care system, a forty year old stroke patient travels to Tianjin, China in search of the rehabilitation he needs.
- DirectorJon AlpertJoe BerlingerKate DavisA documentary made up of nine separate segments on the topic of drug addiction. Segments include: "Saturday Night in a Dallas ER," by Jon Alpert; "A Mother's Desperation," by Susan Froemke and Albert Maysles; "The Science of Relapse," by Eugene Jarecki and Susan Froemke; "The Adolescent Addict," by Kate Davis and David Heilbroner; "Brain Imaging," by Liz Garbus and Rory Kennedy; "Opiate Addiction: A New Medication," by D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus; "Topiramate: A Clinical Trial for Alcoholism," by Alan and Susan Raymond; "Steamfitters Local Union 638," by Barbara Kopple; and "Insurance Woes," by Susan Froemke.
- DirectorRick MinnichMatt SweetwoodOne week after a seemingly harmless car accident, a 45-year-old man suffers total amnesia. Christening himself the "New Richard," he embarks upon a new life with a new wife far away from his family. Sixteen years later, his oldest son returns with a camera to investigate why his father's memory never returned.
- DirectorMartin WilliamsStarsHoward WardEllie-Jo BrooksMalcolm DaveyThe story of a human life, from first breath to last. Told from within the body.
- DirectorTony PerriStarsBill LeVasseurMichelle TuttleRoxy KingA revolution of good deeds positively changing the planet. In a groundbreaking experiment, researchers at the National Institutes of Health have discovered that humans are hard-wired to be unselfish. During functional MRI brain scans, scientists learned that altruism makes people feel good, lighting up a primitive part of the human brain that usually responds to food, receiving money, and even sex. Combine a heart-warming, funny and semi-autobiographical storyline about two reporters who uncover this altruistic revolution with actual interviews from leading scientists, artists and philosophers and you have the World's First Truly "Feel Good" Movie, Serotonin Rising.
- DirectorTiffany ShlainStarsKen GoldbergPeter CoyoteLeonard ShlainFilmmaker and Founder of the Webby Awards, Tiffany Shlain, investigates the interconnections between the major issues of the 21st century and her own experience of these issues during a family crisis.
- DirectorLiz GarbusStarsLynda DelorenzoAl'Khan EdwardsDevonia EdwardsAl'Khan, Roxanne, Sean, and Tom have each emerged from their Traumatic Brain Injury comas, but just how conscious are they, and will they get better?
- DirectorWarwick HoltCraig E. TonkinStarsDon BiesChris BrennanKaren FletcherThe PhanDom Menace presents the definitive look at the most devoted fans on the planet. Follow the lives of Australia's most passionate Star Wars fans as the moment they've waited 16 years for is suddenly upon them. See the amazing costumes, trivia soaked brains, vast collections and unconditional dedication that make these fans a breed apart. Be stunned by the shockwaves that echo through the Star Wars fan community at the dawn of its new prequel era. The PhanDom Menace revels in Star Walking's national conventions - complete with international guest representatives from Lucasfilm and cast members of Episode 1, elaborate costume pageants (including the George Lucas approved $10,000 'Vader'), swap-meets, an extraordinary film festival and art exhibit. It also eavesdrops on committee meetings where members strategise and officially begin the countdown to the eagerly anticipated, spine-tingling midnight premiere screening of Episode 1. Through childhood and adolescent reflection on the Star Wars trilogy, rooms of collectibles, the planned ritual repeat viewings and the compelling range of reaction to the new installment, we meet fans of all sorts: film-makers, artists, toy-makers, costumers, authors, and, of course, the management, all devoting their considerable passion to a celebration of the biggest pop culture phenomenon of all time.
- DirectorRory Owen DelaneyStarsDon BlankenshipLarry BrownBill ClintonSomething is bad wrong as everyday Americans fight to protect their air, water and blood from pollution.
- DirectorLance BauscherStarsRobert Anton WilsonScott ApelValerie CorralGuerrilla ontologist. Psychedelic magickian. Outer head of the Illuminati. Quantum psychologist. Sit-down comic/philosopher. Discordian Pope. Whatever the label and rank, Robert Anton Wilson is undeniably one of the foundations of 21th Century Western counterculture. Maybe Logic - The Lives and Ideas of Robert Anton Wilson is a cinematic alchemy that conjures it all together in a hilarious and mind-bending journey guaranteed to increase your brain size 2 - 3 inches! From the water coolers and staff meetings of Playboy and the earth-shattering transmission of the Illuminatus! Trilogy, to fire-breathing senior citizen and Taoist sage, Robert Anton Wilson is a man who has passed through the trials of chapel perilous and found himself on wondrous ground where nothing is for certain, even the treasured companionship of a six-foot-tall white rabbit. Featuring RAW video spanning 25 years and the best of over 100 hours of footage thoroughly tweaked, transmuted and regenerated, Maybe Logic follows a reality labyrinth which leads through the hollows of human perception to the vast star fields of Sirius where we find one man alone, joyfully accepting his status as Damned Old Crank and Cosmic Schmuck. Beaming with insight, frustration, compassion, and unshakable optimism, the ever-open eye of Robert Anton Wilson penetrates human illusions exposing the mathematical probabilities and spooky synchronicities of the 8 dimensions of his Universe.
- DirectorTim CawleyStarsAlexa AdamsMaria BamfordMoungi BawendiThis fast-paced, funny, inspiring doc explores the common techniques, habits and neuroses that lead to breakthrough ideas.
- DirectorHugh HudsonStarsMaryam d'AboNigel HaversMaryam d'Abo suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage in 2007 and is lucky to be alive. Her experience inspired this film and leads the viewer on a personal journey of recovery, giving a sense of hope to those who are isolated by their condition that is not seen therefore often misunderstood. Many first hand stories celebrate man's life force and his will to survive. The film concerns all human beings, dealing with the fragility of the extraordinary brain of which we know surprisingly little.
- DirectorJeff MalmbergStarsMark HogancampEmmanuel NnejiEdda HogancampDocumentary about Mark Hogancamp. After a vicious attack leaves him brain-damaged and broke, Mark seeks recovery in "Marwencol", a 1/6th scale World War II-era town he creates in his backyard. Inspired the movie Welcome to Marwen (2018)
- DirectorMike SheerinStarsNorman DoidgeThe revolutionary science of "neuroplasticity" - a concept that expands not just our knowledge of how our brains work, but how we use them. For centuries the human brain has been thought of as incapable of fundamental change. People suffering from neurological defects, brain damage or strokes were usually written-off as hopeless cases. But recent and continuing research into the human brain is radically changing how we look at the potential for neurological recovery. The human brain, as we are now quickly learning, has a remarkable ability to change itself - in fact, even to rewire itself. The Brain that Changes Itself is directed by Mike Sheerin and is co-written by Dr. Norman Doidge and Mike Sheerin and produced by 90th Parallel Productions Ltd. in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and ARTE France.
- DirectorDaniel LanctotStarsAshima AvdiSeljimoni AvdiBekim DubovicIn July 2000, WHO (the World Health Organization) urgently appealed to the UN administration in Kosovo to close their three Roma (Gypsy) IDP (internally displaced peoples) camps in the Mitrovica area because they had been built on highly toxic wasteland. More than six years later, the UN has still not evacuated these camps, nor sought medical treatment for the life-threatening lead levels in the blood of those living there. The International Committee of the Red Cross, Amnesty International, Society for Threatened Peoples, Refugees International (and many other humanitarian organizations) have demanded in writing to the UN the immediate evacuation of these three camps. This film encourages the international community to intervene. Unable to return home or obtain refugee status in a third country, these Gypsies remain trapped on toxic land where every child conceived will suffer irreversible brain damage.
- DirectorRandy DavisStarsLayla DavisSally IrvinMelinda LovelessCharlie Petrizzo knows about hurt, and the scars it can leave. He also knows about healing. What he never suspected is how little he knew about forgiveness. Charlie Petrizzo looked death in the eye twice - once when he was just four years old and again when he was 16. He survived brain damage, paralysis, burns over almost 70% of his body. He has the scars to prove it. Charlie's Scars is the story of one man's life-long struggle to heal. For Charlie that has meant more than physical healing. It has been a journey to faith. And it has meant finding meaning and purpose - a calling, if you will - in the life-altering accidents of his childhood. Part of Charlie's healing process has been bringing together dogs with special gifts and children with special needs. Then Charlie learned that the selfless work he was doing meant giving a second chance to a brutal murderer - Melinda Loveless, who murderer 12-yr old Shanda Sharer in 1992. Will Charlie's scars make it impossible for him to continue his work of healing? Will his scars make it impossible for him to offer mercy to a killer, and grant her the second chance at life that he has been given?
- DirectorNeil BlewettStarsSteven HartleyMichael WatsonLittle did Michael Watson know that when he stepped into the ring on 21 September 1991 to fight Chris Eubank for the World Boxing Organisation Super Middleweight title, it was a fight that would nearly cost him his life. Ten years on, Fighting Back - The Michael Watson Story, tells of his remarkable recovery from the brink of death and features his first public meeting with Eubank. The programme includes interviews with Michael, Chris Eubank, Michael's friends and family, the surgeon Peter Hamlyn and referee Roy Francis, who talks about the fight for the first time. Boxing journalist Steve Bunce, who was ringside at White Hart Lane on the night, says: "This is a guy who should be dead. "He is the boxer who came back from the dead that remains an absolute established medical fact. "He should not have made any recovery according to all of the medical experts that have peered inside his head." Michael fought Eubank twice. In the first fight, the judges controversially awarded the fight to Eubank, even though commentators considered Michael the clear winner. Uppercut In the rematch that followed, Michael was less than four minutes away from taking the world title after knocking his opponent down in the 11th round. But when Eubank rose, with just 20 seconds of the round remaining, he caught Michael with an uppercut. Watson fell, caught his head on the ropes and was eventually left with severe brain damage. Michael was allowed to come out for the final round before referee Francis stopped the bout with the stricken fighter against the ropes taking further punishment. That meant it was more than 30 minutes after the fight ended that he received oxygen and some two hours before he was wheeled into an operating theatre. He subsequently claimed that the British Boxing Board of Control was liable for the brain damage he suffered and in December 2000 won the ensuing court case.
- DirectorAbby EpsteinStarsMary Helen AyresJulia BarnettSylvie BlausteinBirth: it's a miracle. A rite of passage. A natural part of life. But more than anything, birth is a business. Compelled to find answers after a disappointing birth experience with her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to explore the maternity care system in America.
- DirectorNicole ConnStarsNicholas James Baba-ConnLily ChowMichele Hakakha'Little Man' is the story of how a micro-preemie brought a family to its knees. Throughout his struggle for life, so struggle filmmaker, Nicole Conn and political activist Gwen Baba to keep their family from disintegrating under the unrelenting stress and chaos of hospitals, emergency medical crisis and a crushing blow to trust.
- DirectorArunas MatelisA short documentary about a hospital ward for children with leukemia in Lithuania.
- DirectorRupert MurrayStarsDoug BruceRupert MurrayThe true story of Doug Bruce who woke up on Coney Island with total amnesia. This documentary follows him as he rediscovers himself and the world around him.
- DirectorSteve BuonaugurioStarsAngela BuonaugurioMandy BuonaugurioSteve BuonaugurioPregnant In America is the true story of Steve and Mandy Buonaugurio, a young, adventurous, expectant couple, who decide to take a daring and potentially dangerous approach to having their first child--outside the modern American medical system. What they learn about hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, midwives, and home birth as they travel across the United States and Europe interviewing experts and confronting birthing situations, exposes them to some shocking and disturbing realities about America¹s maternity care system and what is happening to women and babies. Ultimately, what they learn impacts on and alters the outcome of their own pregnancy.
- DirectorMegan MylanStarsAnti ChauhanGhutaru ChauhanVirendra Kumar DasA real-world fairy-tale about the journey of Pinki and Ghutaru, two children in rural India whose lives are forever changed by a simple surgery they never imagined possible.
- DirectorChristian BunzStarsRemerose JuanitasRolando CumbasJenny BalatinsayoMost of us will never know true poverty. The poverty of watching our children die because we cannot afford a hospital. The poverty of trying to make enough money picking through garbage to hopefully eat that night. The poverty of having to choose who in a family won't eat because there is simply not enough. Living in such conditions, there is no room for hope, the only focus is survival and making it to the next day. Remerose, Rolando and Jenny are three children from the Philippines who live in such poverty. Remerose started cutting sugarcane eight hours a day when she was seven years old. She lied about her age so she could work and earns half of what an adult does, about 25 U.S. cents a day. Jenny's family lives in a one room cinder block hut. It is brand new, having been rebuilt twice in the last two years, after a typhoon and volcano destroyed it two separate times. Because of these disasters, her parents have neither a job, nor the means to leave to go somewhere else to find one. Rolando hasn't seen his mother in three years. She left the family to find work in Manila so they would have enough to eat. They can barely afford food, much less the money for her to come home to visit. As we follow each of these children on their journeys, their future takes shape, not through sharing the math or reading lessons they've learned at the school, but through sharing the hope the Sisters of Mary gave them. The one characteristic that a life of poverty had never afforded them-hope.
- DirectorMary Olive SmithStarsCatherine Hamlin"A Walk to Beautiful" tells the story of five women in Ethiopia suffering from devastating childbirth injuries. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame. We follow each of these women on their journey to a special hospital in Addis Ababa where they find solace for the first time in years, and we stay with them as their lives begin to change. Through the intimate experiences all five share, we are no longer in the heart of Africa-we are in the hearts of these women. The trials they endure and their attempts to rebuild their lives tell a universal story of hope, courage, and transformation.
- DirectorWindy BormanStarsLynn BradachSangduen 'Lek' ChailertPipope ChokathanaTells the true story of one woman's quest to help two elephant landmine survivors-Motala and Baby Mosha-walk on their own four legs.
- DirectorTodd DaytonStarsJohn DouglasDonald HarveyJoseph KondroIn this compelling documentary, John Douglas, a former FBI criminal profiler, uses his investigative skills and expertise to go head-to-head with two convicted serial killers: rapist-murderer Joseph Kondro, who targeted his friends' children and eventually pleaded guilty to the murders of two young girls; and Donald Harvey, a cunning killer who preyed on helpless patients in the hospitals where he worked and called himself a mercy killer
- DirectorStefano LeviStarsSanduk RuitGeoff TabinDavid Oliver RelinMost of the world's blind people live in remote, impoverished areas. The majority of doctors able to cure them work in cities. Dr. Sanduk Ruit from Nepal, and his American partner, Dr. Geoff Tabin, have made perfecting a portable low cost surgery to restore sight their life's work. They trek to Nepal's remote Northeast, carrying an entire hospital on porter's backs. Their mission is to bring the needlessly blind out of the darkness.
- DirectorMahmoud al MassadStarsBashir Mammon MraishIsmael AbedSaeb Abu AlraghebAthens, 1983. The world press reports that 4-year old Bashir is killed in the assassination of his father, Mamoun Mraish, a top PLO lieutenant. Father and son are declared dead but when they arrive at the hospital Bashir turns out to be still alive. But if Bashir is fully alive today, what happened to the dream he and his father were believed to have died for?
- DirectorKazuhiro SôdaStarsToshio KashiwagiItsuko KishimotoIkuo MiyakeMENTAL is a feature-length documentary that observes the complex world of an outpatient mental health clinic in Japan, interwoven with patients, doctors, staff, volunteers, and home-helpers, in cinema-verite style. The film breaks a major taboo against discussing mental illness prevalent in Japanese society, and captures the candid lives of people coping with suicidal tendencies, poverty, a sense of shame, apprehension, and fear of society.
- DirectorTadhg O'SullivanFeargal WardEach Tuesday, in St. Luke's hospital in Dublin, the door to Radioactive Iodine Suite B is shut behind a patient who remains there, alone, until the end of the week. On one such day, sixty six year old Rosanna Byrne prepares for the treatment that will see her locked away from the family and friends that have been so vital in her battle with illness. In another part of the specialist hospital, a small lead canister is being carefully prepared and transported through the corridors. As a toxic dose of iodine works to eradicate any remaining thyroid cells at this last, exhausting stage of cancer treatment, Rosanna is kept from all human contact. Meals are passed through a hatch in the heavy doors that separate her from the busy hospital. In a week punctuated only by brief, restricted visits that must be conducted through thick glass, she is left alone with her thoughts. We move slowly up to and through the lead-lined glass to frame an intimate portrait of one woman's solitary time with illness, fate and faith. The jury at the Cork Film Festival commended 'a documentary that manages a seemingly impossible task', a film 'rich in its casual humanity'.
- DirectorJay NiverJay SpainStarsSam NiverJay NiverGretchen NiverSam Niver had terminal cancer; the end was near. Proud and fiercely independent, he wanted control in death as well as in life. He could die in a hospital or die at home -- hopefully on his own terms. Sam believed strongly in dignified death. Could he act on his belief? In "Live & Let Go" we meet Sam: WWII veteran; hometown newspaperman; civic leader; loving husband, father and friend. We see Sam and his family recall his life, and confront his thoughts about impending death. We follow him on his intimate, personal journey as he reflects on the past and decides on his future. We live Sam's final months and days, and we learn his ultimate choice. He dies -- and we share the wrenching experience. "Live & Let Go" tackles death -- the universal fact of life -- with unflinching candor. It tells one man's story about the choice he makes -- one that every one of us must ultimately face.
- DirectorKim A. SnyderStarsKim A. SnyderMichelle AkersJan ArmstrongIn 1984-85, people at Lake Tahoe fell ill with flu symptoms, but they didn't get better. Medical literature documents similar outbreaks: in 1934 at LA county hospital, in 1948-49 in Iceland, in 1956 in Punta Gorda, Florida. The malady now has a name, chronic fatigue syndrome, and filmmaker Kim Snyder, who suffered from the disease for several years, tells her story and talks to victims and their families, and to physicians and researchers: is it viral, it is psychosomatic, is it one disease or several (a syndrome) ; what's the CDC doing about it; what's it like to have a disease that's not yet understood? Her inquiry takes her to Punta Gorda and to a high-school graduation.
- DirectorBill LichtensteinJune PeoplesStarsFitzroy FredericksTex GordonFrances OliveroWEST 47th STREET is a feature-length theatrical documentary film. It follows the lives of four people with serious mental illness, over three years. The film provides an unprecedented window on the lives of people who are often feared and ignored, seldom understood. Co-producers Bill Lichtenstein and June Peoples enjoyed an extraordinary degree of access to their lives, and shot more than 350 hours of tape: off and on the street, in and out of hospitals and homeless shelters, healthy -- and psychotic. The resulting stories, both warm and dramatic, are about people who approach tremendous obstacles with humor, optimism and grace.
- DirectorNick KuiperStarsLiza BelistoLiza BelsitoDaniel CavalcantiFacing overwhelming obstacles, a group of preemies struggle to beat the odds and survive.
- DirectorJulie NgStarsAron RalstonDonna RalstonBrion AfterTraces the parallel search and rescue efforts underway while Aron Ralston was still trapped in Blue John Canyon.
- DirectorJulian KempStarsBoyd RogersDavid ColesAlan DaviesThe history of Didworthy Sanatorium for Consumptivs, a TB hospital which opened in 1903.
- DirectorDave DawesStarsChris AckermanJerry BernardoMike CinqmarsDisposable Hero documents Brian's journey from hospital beds to podium tops!!! No one in freestyle has had it as good and as bad as Brian Deegan. Brian has collected more X Games and Gravity Games medals than any other competitor. He's appeared on the cover of Racer X Illustrated, Transworld Motocross & FreeriderMX. Features of him have appeared in not only these motocross industry related magazines but in FHM, ESPN The Magazine, DUB and Rolling Stone. Yet at the same time, he's accumulated more X-Rays, Pins, Rods, Plates, Casts, Gashes, and screws than most freestyle motocross riders. To top it all off, he most recently lost a kidney and severely injured his spleen while filming for MTV's Viva La Bam. "Disposable Hero motivates you to throw away your crutches and kick the weak in their ass, The Grim Reaper was at the door and Deegan did not answer." - Jerry Bernardo
- DirectorAndrás KollmannStarsZsolt ErössZsolt Eross, a famous Hungarian mountain climber fights with the elements in an extraordinary environment- a hospital. After great climbs in the Himalaya he lost his right leg in an avalanche accident. The movie illustrates a moving, human story of an injured person rising back to his feet. His family name means Strong in Hungarian, he shows strength during the recovery period. Few months after the accident he returns to the Himalayas to attempt Cho Oyu, the 6th highest peak in the world, but he had to realize that the accident weakened him more than he had thought.
- DirectorJeremy D. HammStarsJeremy D. HammAndrew ThormanRyan ThompsonIf this hospital has been abandoned for 26 years, then why are the staff and patients still here?
- DirectorFabrizio LazzarettiAlberto VendemmiatiStarsEttore MoKate RowlandsGino StradaA film about a group of compassionate doctors who struggle to start and operate basic hospital facilities in wartorn Afghanistan.
- DirectorDavid BradburnStarsTony BradburnLeft by his birth mother in a hospital that served one of the poorest communities in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tony's first six months of life were spent in an orphanage, until his adoption. Growing up just outside of Chicago, Tony went on to receive two Masters degrees in the field of education while beginning a family of his own. At the age of 30, he decided to return to the Dominican Republic to search for his birth mother. This is his story.
- DirectorLucy WinerThirty years after her commitment to the violent ward of Kings Park State Hospital, filmmaker Lucy Winer returns to the now abandoned institution that once held her captive. Her meetings with other former patients, their families, and the hospital staff, reveal the painful legacy of our state hospital system and the crisis left by its demise.
- DirectorOndi TimonerRobert JamesStarsRick AttigMary Ellen MarkAward-winning documentary about the last remains of the mentally ill.
- DirectorMegan Smith-HarrisStarsJ.R. MartinezJustina PageTRIAL BY FIRE: Lives Re-Forged Imagine waking up in the hospital, bandaged from head to toe, and discovering that your life, as you knew it, had been destroyed? TRIAL BY FIRE: Lives Re-Forged chronicles the inspirational and surprising journeys of seven burn survivors before and after the harrowing accidents that forever changed their lives. When you forge metal with fire it becomes stronger - it turns out the same is true of the human spirit.
- DirectorShamir AllibhaiJane ChablaniWilliam CranStarsHis Highness the Aga KhanBorn into a world of wealth and privilege, he devotes his life to eliminating poverty and inequality. A religious leader who traces his ancestry back to the Prophet Muhammad, he struggles to balance the traditional with the modern. His Highness the Aga Khan is the spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims, a Shia sect with 15 million followers around the world. At a time when Islam is at odds with itself and with the West, the Aga Khan represents a voice of moderation, speaking out for pluralism and diversity, and promoting dialogue between civilizations. But will he be heard? The Film: The Ismailis are a people without a homeland. An oft-persecuted minority within Islam, they are scattered across more than 30 countries. The program shows how many Ismailis came to the West when they were forced out of Uganda by Idi Amin. It was the current Aga Khan's grandfather, Sultan Muhammed Shah Aga Khan, who created the Ismaili community as we know it today. Though a reputation for high living often overshadowed his achievements, he encouraged Ismailis to build modern institutions, promoted the education of women, and built a network of charities, schools and hospitals in the developing world. In his will, he named his 20-year-old grandson, Prince Karim, as his successor, believing that Ismailis needed a leader who had grown up in the modern world - an Imam for "the atomic age." The Aga Khan prefers to let his development work speak for itself. He has resisted participating in documentaries for over forty-five years and has rarely given interviews. This documentary secured both. AN ISLAMIC CONSCIENCE reveals how this shy and studious young man became one of the world's most respected faith leaders, tending to the spiritual lives of his followers while also operating one of the most important aid organizations in the world: the Aga Khan Development Foundation, which employs 70,000 people and invests more than $400 million in development aid every year. For the Aga Khan, social improvement, pluralism and intellectual advancement are integral aspects of the Islamic faith but his message is being drowned out by the rise of militant fundamentalist Islam. He struggles to act as a force for moderation, and to establish bridges between Islam and the West. It remains to be seen if this battle can be won.
- DirectorFiona CochraneMusic affects our development from the womb to the grave. This documentary examines the role music plays in developing our brains as humans.
- DirectorKnelly DettingerStarsIna May GaskinFrank SpringerPaula Bernini FeigalDocuments three families as they attempt out of hospital birth with midwives. Stories are interwoven with interviews from midwifery icon Ina May Gaskin and local longtime birth doctor Frank Springer M.D to educate the viewer about where we are and where we have been in regards to birth in the United States.
- DirectorKeir MoreanoStarsAmy BerkompasLaRelle CathermanDoan Thi HoaAS THE CALL, SO THE ECHO tells the story of an American surgeon who volunteers in a poverty stricken hospital in central Vietnam. When a woman with a deadly cancer is presented to him, he must struggle to save her life, fighting to overcome a language barrier, limited equipment, and his deepest fears.
- DirectorJulie WinokurEvery minute in the United States, an ambulance gets turned away from an emergency room because hospitals are simply too full. In Los Angeles, where the wait time in some ERs is as long as 48 hours, the entire 911 system is being dragged down in ways that are alarming. FIRESTORM follows the Los Angeles Fire Department Station 65, located in South L.A., a neighborhood with a largely uninsured and undereducated population. The LAFD handles all emergency medical services for the city of Los Angeles, and currently 82% of the department's work is medical-rather than fire-related. Ten hospitals have closed in just five years in L.A., and the challenge of delivering more than 500 patients per day to a shrinking number of hospitals is overwhelming the LAFD. With resources strained, and 911 being used for everything from heart attacks to stomach aches, LAFD paramedics have become virtual 'doctors in a box' according to Fire Chief Daniel McCarthy. Shot cinema vérité, with candid interviews and punctuated with stunning still images by Ed Kashi, FIRESTORM depicts the insanity behind a rapidly unraveling health care safety net. Award-winning filmmaker Julie Winokur and world-renowned photojournalist Ed Kashi show how 911 has become the speed dial for those who either don't have access to health care or don't manage their care properly. Instead of putting out fires and responding to life-and-death emergencies, EMS personnel are essentially filling a void in medical care and stretching themselves to the brink. So who will rescue the rescuers?
- DirectorRachid B.A hospital room, a drip... At his sick father's bedside, in a final, silent showdown, Rachid B. recalls his strongest memories, those which, in the course of his life constructed him or drove him to the worst. From his childhood in Morocco to recollections of his homosexuality and rejection of Christianity, right up to his recent conversion to Islam, he gives an honest account of his life, his wanderings, and the splits that have marked it.
- DirectorPaige WilliamsStarsPaige WilliamsJudy WilliamsJerry WilliamsMississippi Queen follows Paige, a southerner returning home, who digs past the mask of hospitality to examine gay values and the ex-gay ministry, interviewing southerners on both sides of the issues, including her parents who help convert homosexuals.
- DirectorNatasha Shaginian-NeedhamVasiliy ArkanovStarsEvgeniy MironovThis documentary depicts the story and ongoing struggled of 20-year-old Sasha Shulchev, born without legs and with missing fingers. Unwanted and abandoned in an orphanage by his birth mother as a baby, it is at this same orphanage where Sasha meets Natasha Shaginian-Needham, founder of Happy Families International Center, henceforth changing both their lives forever. Natasha raises funds for Sasha to travel to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas, where he is fitted with prosthetic limbs and given post-operative care. Placed temporarily with a host family, Sasha overcomes phantom limb pains, painful physical therapy, and language barriers, his evanescent personality and charm winning over all those who come into contact with him.
- DirectorKim BrandStarsFrank DostSylvia RuijsendaalOnno SluijterDisease and healing, birth and death, small operations or big events: a hospital is a place where joy and sorrow constantly alternate. The smoking area in front of the hospital serves as gathering place for visitors, patients and staff. Here it looks like time is standing still. People can relax, reflect on what's happening to them, or just chitchat about the weather. One of the most curious guests there is a grey cyper cat...
- DirectorJudith EhrlichRick Tejada-FloresStarsEdward AsnerThe story of American conscientious objectors during World War II.
- DirectorBarry SimmonsMilton and Fred Ochieng' are two brothers from Kenya whose village sent them to America to become doctors. But after losing both parents to AIDS they are left with a heartbreaking task: to return home and finish the health clinic their father started before getting sick. Unable to raise enough money on their own, the brothers are joined by students, politicians, and a rock band who launch a fund raising drive among young people across the United States. Honoring a Father's Dream: Sons of Lwala follows Milton and Fred on their incredible journey as they find a way, despite all odds, to open their village's first hospital.
- DirectorKatinka NewmanStarsPatrick DeuelDan GrayEdith DeuelPatrick Deuel is the world's heaviest man - almost 1100 pounds. This documentary opens with paramedics removing a wall of his house in Valentine, Nebraska and transporting him six hours to a hospital where he spent months trying to lose weight to qualify for a gastric bypass operation. This documentary moves among (primarily) Patrick and two others who are morbidly obese and their loved ones, neighbors and doctors. It examines how they got that way, what made them that way and how they have succeeded and failed in their struggles to change.
- DirectorMarion LipschutzRose RosenblattA portrait of a small town OB/GYN that explores the radical decline in the number of doctors performing abortions, as well as the impact of Catholic hospital mergers on the provision of abortion services. Aired as a POV special in 2000 with a town hall and Internet component that generated the most extensive on-line discussion in the history of POV programming. Human Rights Watch Film Festival entrant.
- DirectorTom TaveeThis is the story of a little village in Thailand with a very dangerous tradition. In this strange little village, the world's most dangerous serpent, the King Cobra, has become both a pet and a business partner of a deadly cottage industry. The entire village-from elders to children-works as one and performs relentlessly at their temple to attract tourists and herb buyers. The main attraction is the boxing matches, man versus snake, one on one! Bites are commonplace, but the village has no anti-serum to combat the deadly toxins and the nearest hospital is over an hour away by car. The film portrays the lives of the fighters and documents this dangerous performance-sport of snake-boxing, the art of theatrically antagonizing the largest venomous snakes in the world. Some of the boxers have been bitten dozens of times, but despite losing fingers and friends, the boxers love their snakes and their perilous profession.
- DirectorMadhuri MohindarJuana Villegas was 9 months pregnant and never pictured herself as a mom to be behind bars. She was taken in for a routine traffic violation that is normally taken care of by a simple citation. This violation, of which she was later cleared, was handled by immigration authorized local police and she was locked up in a jail in her state. Taken to the hospital in chains, she went through labor with a sheriff's officer standing guard in her hospital room, where one of her feet was cuffed to the bed most of the time. She talks of her pain after giving birth.
- DirectorEric Daniel MetzgarIn August 2004, Jason Crigler, one of New York City's most sought-after guitarists, suffered a brain hemorrhage during a concert in Manhattan. That night at the hospital, the doctors told Jason's family-if he makes it through the night, there won't be much left of him. Jason's wife, Monica, pregnant at the time, froze. "Everything completely stopped. I forgot all about the pregnancy. I think I left my body. I remember thinking, 'This cannot be true. I cannot go on without Jason.'" Days passed, and Jason's family was forced to accept the new dark reality at hand. But they refused to accept the dark future described by doubtful doctors. So in the face of wrenching despair and horrifying odds, the Criglers made a resolution-Jason will make a full recovery. And thus began the long, grueling, implausible and mystifying journey chronicled in Life. Support. Music.
- DirectorJacob EnnisStarsKeith AgeFred AngelZach BalesHAUNTED KENTUCKY: SPIRITS OF THE BLUEGRASS documenting unexplained paranormal activity in Kentucky in addition to some of the leading experts in the "Ghost Hunting" field. Traveling all over the state with guidance by paranormal investigators. Old abandoned churches, century old cemeteries, battlefields, hospitals, theaters, and haunted libraries are just a few of the destinations.
- DirectorManny RodriguezStarsMaurice BenardRebecca BudigTyler ChristopherPreempting The View for one day in August, this TV Special aired as a way to entice Soap Viewers to stick to their shows during the 2004 summer olympics. Main actors from ABC's "All My Children", "General Hospital" & "One Life to Live" discuss upcoming storylines on their shows with Ty Tredway and Lisa Rinna ( the hosts of the Emmy nominated soap discussion program SoapTalk ).
- DirectorKris Britt MontagA profile of two families whose lives have been shaped by hoarding and the "packrat" behavior of one family member.