You recently executive produced Voices of Research, a series of short films in collaboration with the NYU Langone Health Clinical and Translational Science Institute that will be screened on September 29. Can you tell us about the project and your role in bringing these stories to life?
As I mentioned earlier, the project was in its infancy around the time I enrolled in the Doc Fundamentals program. When I finished the program, I began immediately implementing the things I learned from the course into the development of the shorts. The “Voices of Research” short film series was born from a grant initiative at the Clinical and Translational Science Institute within the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Researchers at the CTSI realized that peer-to-peer mentoring was one of the most powerful tools when teaching communities about clinical trials, so they wanted to devise a research participant narrative project where participants from various clinical trials talked about their first hand experiences. I proposed that we create a series of documentary-style shorts that highlighted the stories of these participants. After getting approval from the CTSI leadership, I began the outreach process of finding our star participants and spoke with their clinical trial research teams to learn more about the studies they were a part of. Once I found my participants, I then worked with our CTSI finance team and a local ad agency, APartnership, to find a film crew and a production team to bring the project to life. APartnership, the CTSI and Highlight (film crew) all had pre-existing relationships with one another so the team worked well together and we were able to execute the project with ease.
Looking back at where you were before enrolling in Documentary Fundamentals and where you are now, how do you feel your relationship with documentary filmmaking has evolved?
I have a profound appreciation for doc film now. I am grateful to have found a mentor in the doc film industry since graduating from the Doc Fundamentals program so my world has been opened to a whole new facet of the industry. I have had the pleasure of attending screenings of Oscar-nominated documentaries and meeting their creators. My former appreciation for the art form has now become an adoration that I know will continue to grow.
You’ve spoken about eventually transitioning more fully into documentary film production. What draws you toward that next chapter, and what kinds of stories or projects would you like to pursue?
With on-going changes to federally-funded research and changes to research priorities and infrastructure, I feel like I am being pulled away from medicine and towards filmmaking. My research has historically focused on immigrant and minority health and the social factors that lead to health outcomes. I now feel it is time to share the work that has been done with the broader community. Most of the time when medical research is finalized, it is shared across the medical community and then is published in medical journals. Unfortunately, that lifecycle does not factor in community access, so many medical journals require payments to access or require a university login to access, which many folks do not have so by using forms of media that are regularly accessible to lay audiences (like doc film) I can continue the research lifecycle well into the future. I am drawn to the stories around representation in medicine, workforce diversity, the importance of matching clinicians to community members that share similar backgrounds, health equity, social determinants of health, how to access medical care regardless of immigration or health insurance status, and more. My dream is to work with a Black or Brown owned/operated production studio, such as “40 Acres and a Mule Productions”, “Outlier Society” or “Proximity Media”, to bring these stories to life one day.
What advice would you give to someone considering Documentary Fundamentals—particularly someone who may be balancing an established career with a desire to explore documentary filmmaking?
If your heart is being pulled in the doc film direction, follow it. If you are unsure where to start, this program is the best first step you could take towards the future of your dreams. The curriculum is engaging, flexible for full time work schedules and is transformative in every way.
Get a glimpse into the making of Voices of Research and the collaborative process behind bringing participants’ stories to the screen by watching the video below.
