Bending the Arc is a stunning documentary about a team of young people — Paul Farmer, Jim Yong Kim, Ophelia Dahl — whose charitable medical work 30 years ago in remote Haiti ignited a healthcare movement. Their mission: to deliver basic health care to those who had no access to even the most rudimentary medical help. Their obstacles: The World Bank, the medical establishment, dysfunctional governments and the poverty and isolation of their patients.
A glorious and uplifting film…Bending the Arc is a heartwarming and radiant offering. Most magically, it transcends the colossal power of its own story to show how individual beings, one step at a time, can right the course of inequality and injustice. – Excerpted from a review by Duane Byrge, Hollywood Reporter
Q&A to follow. Seating is first come, first served. The film screening is free of charge and no ticket is necessary.
Jim Yong Kim, M.D., Ph.D., is the 12th President of the World Bank Group. Soon after he assumed his position in July 2012, the organization established goals to end extreme poverty by 2030 and to boost shared prosperity. In September 2016, the World Bank Group Board unanimously reappointed Kim to a second five-year term as President, beginning July 2017.
Kim’s career has revolved around health, education, and delivering services to the poor. Before joining the World Bank Group, Kim, a physician and anthropologist, served as the President of Dartmouth College and held professorships at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. From 2003 to 2005, as director of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS department, he led the “3 by 5” initiative, the first-ever global goal for AIDS treatment, which greatly to expand access to antiretroviral medication in developing countries. In 1987, Kim co-founded Partners In Health, a non-profit medical organization that now works in poor communities on four continents. Kim has received a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, was recognized as one of America’s “25 Best Leaders” by U.S. News & World Report, and was named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World”.
Medical anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer has dedicated his life to improving health care for the world's poorest people. He is Co-founder and Chief Strategist of Partners In Health (PIH), an international non-profit organization that since 1987 has provided direct health care services and undertaken research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. Dr. Farmer and his colleagues in the U.S. and abroad have pioneered novel community-based treatment strategies that demonstrate the delivery of high-quality health care in resource-poor settings.
Dr. Farmer holds an M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he is the Kolokotrones University Professor and the Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School; he is also Chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston. Additionally, Dr. Farmer serves as the United Nations Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Community Based Medicine and Lessons from Haiti.
Dr. Farmer has written extensively on health, human rights, and the consequences of social inequality. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Margaret Mead Award from the American Anthropological Association, the Outstanding International Physician (Nathan Davis) Award from the American Medical Association, a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, and, with his PIH colleagues, the Hilton Humanitarian Prize. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Melquiades Huauya Ore is an advocate for patient care and access to medical treatment for all. He is a survivor of multi drug resistant tuberculosis and speaks out on behalf of patients around the world. He lives in Lima, Peru.
Tabitha Jackson was appointed Director of the Documentary Film Program (DFP) at Sundance Institute in late 2013. The DFP is dedicated to supporting nonfiction filmmakers worldwide in the production of cinematic documentaries that tell compelling stories, push the boundaries of the form, or address contemporary issues including social justice and human rights. In supporting such work, the DFP encourages the diverse exchange of ideas by artists as a critical pathway to developing an open society. Recently supported films have included Cameraperson, Hooligan Sparrow, Whose Streets?, The Look of Silence, I Am Not Your Negro, and CITIZENFOUR.
With almost 25 years experience in the field, Jackson is an award-winning Commissioning Editor, director, and producer of non-fiction work. Prior to joining Sundance she most recently served as Head of Arts and Performance at Channel 4 Television in London, where she supported and championed the independent and alternative voice and sought to find fresh and innovative ways of storytelling. She also executive produced a number of projects for Film 4 including Mark Cousins’ cinematic odyssey The Story of Film, Clio Barnard’s hybrid The Arbor, Sophie Fiennes’ essay The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology, Bart Layton’s thriller The Imposter, and Iain and Jane’s recent Sundance-winning Nick Cave biography 20,000 Days on Earth.
CORI SHEPHERD STERN is an Academy Award nominated producer focused on both documentary and fiction film projects. Her most recent film, which she wrote and produced, is BENDING THE ARC - a feature documentary about the epic arc of the global health rights movement through the intimate story of the extraordinary team who led the fight. The film, which premiered at Sundance 2017, was called by The Hollywood Reporter "a stunning documentary...a glorious and uplifting film."
Cori's past projects include WARM BODIES, a box office smash for Summit/Lionsgate and OPEN HEART, a 2013 Oscar nominee for Best Documentary Short Subject. She has a first-look producing deal with Rocklin|Faust, producers of Oscar-winning Best Picture SPOTLIGHT. Current projects include THE ARIZONA PROJECT with Miramax and Adaptive Entertainment, a narrative feature. Cori has also executive produced two virtual reality films: COLLISIONS, which premiered at Davos and Sundance 2016, and FRANCIS, which premiered at the World Bank and WHO in support of world body policy change for global mental health.
In addition to film, her experience includes hands-on work as a social change strategist and social entrepreneur. She appeared in the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award winning documentary SONITA, working to help the young woman/rapper escape child marriage in Afghanistan and pursue her art. Cori's social justice projects have been featured on BBC, NPR, The Today Show, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Elissa builds strategic alliances for Partners In Health (PIH) with corporate, foundation, and implementation partners. Over the last decade she’s held a variety of roles at PIH, including leading the Policy & Partnerships team in Malawi where she developed multisectoral collaboration around noncommunicable disease, women’s health, and health sector planning. Previously, she worked in policy research, supply chain consulting, and workforce development. Elissa is a proud member of the Women’s Impact Alliance.
