A LIVESTRONG Film Produced by Alpheus Media and directed by Mat Hames, the short documentary Delivering Hope premiered at Gracie Mansion, the official residence of Mayor Bloomberg, during the 2011 United Nations General Assembly.
Several years ago, Alpheus Media made a short documentary called Stigma and Silence to support LIVESTRONG's efforts to combat the stigma of cancer around the world. We traveled to Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Italy, and India where we filmed man-on-the-street interviews and survivor stories. Stigma and Silence or some other edited version of it showed around the world at important events like the UICC meeting in China, online through social media, private screenings for policy makers and healthcare leaders, and at the LIVESTRONG Summit in Dublin, Ireland. Many great things came out of that Summit, and one of them was the birth of a Global Task Force, which came together and committed to join forces against cancer in developing countries.
LIVESTRONG helped spearhead and organize the Global Task Force, which includes representatives from the Harvard School of Public Health, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Partners in Health and other leading cancer and public health organizations. The mandate of the Global Task Force is to design, implement and evaluate innovative strategies for expanding access to cancer prevention, detection and care. The task force is co-chaired by Lance Armstrong and Her Royal Highness Princess Dina Mired of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. More about the Global Task Force.
Fast forward three years. A huge opportunity presented itself when the United Nations decided to address non-communicable diseases like cancer for the first time ever. The last time the United Nations came together on a health-related issue, AIDS and HIV were targeted as a major priority and much great work has been done in the wake of that. So, we were invited to make a new film showing that cancer care is possible in developing countries, if only there is the political will. There are many great pilot programs or 'learning labs' in the works in very remote areas, with little healthcare infrastructure, who are having great success in treating cancer. I was astonished to learn about some of the efforts already underway in places like Ghana, Rwanda, and Haiti. So our goal was to make a compelling film that engages global policy makers, and shows the hope that is already being delivered to developing countries.
So began another epic travel film. Backing up again, we had learned a lot of lessons from the Stigma shoot that we later applied to our critically acclaimed web series City by City, where we visited 12 Asian cities. This trend continued from 2008 to today as we produced other several other film projects in Belgium, London, the Phillipines, China, Taiwan, and elsewhere around the globe. One of our favorites from this period is 'The Year Without A Summer' filmed in the National Portrait Gallery in London, directed by Hubbard/Birchler.
A lot goes into producing a film in another country, and even more when you're making a single film that spans continents, languages, and cultures. Like finding trustworthy, local fixers who coordinate logistics, permits, permission from the local government, translate for us, and keep us from going to jail; handling language issues, lining up carnets and insurance, traveling with film equipment, overbaggage, and how to avoid the Nairobi airport - just to scratch the surface. In the next few weeks I'll be writing about my experience making Delivering Hope, and how the stories came together, adventures during the film shoot, and the Alpheus process for making it all happen. Documenting cancer treatment in these unlikely places in the developing world was a meaningful experience for all of us. We continue to be amazed by what LIVESTRONG is doing to take the fight against cancer global, and for letting us play a tiny part, through film, in helping them build a bridge across this huge (but not insurmountable) divide. Cancer doesn't know geographical boundaries. Americans suffer from it as do Rwandans, Mexicans, and Jordanians. I'm incredibly grateful to the people we met in our travels for being open and honest, and sharing their stories. Look for another post soon but in the meantime, check out the film and add your comments.
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