Saturday, March 7, 2015

Saturday Short

Today's short is the trailer for the documentary Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies (2015), based on the book of the same title by cancer physician, research scientist, and Pulitzer Prize winning author Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee (a fascinating book, by the way).

The six-hour film, whose director is Barak Goodman and whose executive producer is Ken Burns, comprises three parts: "Magic Bullets", on the centuries-long search for a "cure" (airing on PBS stations March 30); "The Blind Men and the Elephant", about the "war on cancer" and improved understanding of cancer's cellular structure and genetic basis (airing March 31); and "Find the Achilles Heel", about scientists' discovery of the "mystery of the malignant cell" and development of new targeted therapies (airing April 1). Interwoven in each of the parts is a human story—a profile about a child with metastatic leukemia, a second that relates the experience of a surgical oncologist diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, and, in the third, portraits of a 60-year-old mechanic with melanoma and a six-year-old with leukemia, both of whom are receiving new immunotherapy treatments.

Online, at the film's Website, a section has been set up for viewers to share their cancer stories. There is also a blog.



Ken Burns Website

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