Description:

The film reveals how the federal government, with crucial support from medical professionals and civil rights activists, leveraged Medicare funding to bring down the Jim Crow hospital system. Narrated by Danny Glover, it begins as black doctors’ efforts to end racial discrimination clash with the federally funded postwar expansion of segregated hospitals.

Biography:

Charles Burnett was one of the few blacks who had access to college education in the 1960s, and he studied at UCLA's Film Department. He was first noticed in 1981 with Killer of Sheep which won a prize at the Berlin Film Festival. Burnett's film The Glass Shield, a tense rapid-fire police drama on the corruption and racism that plagues the LAPD, was shown in competition at Locarno.

Daniel Loewenthal is an accomplished director for short films and features. He most recently produced the feature film Good Friday, and edited the feature film Lost Cat Corona.

Barbara Berney is a distinguished scholar in public health, environmental justice, and the U.S. healthcare system. Dr. Berney is Associate Professor at the CUNY School of Public Health. Her diverse experience in public health includes working as a front line health worker in Watts for the Los Angeles County Health Department and policy analyst with the United Mine Workers Health and Retirement Funds and with the Bureau of Health Professions in the Department of Health and Human Services.

Roberta Friedman's projects have ranged from the commercial, such as her work for George Lucas on Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back specializing in sparks, matte work, and swords, to the experimental, such as the interactive video The Erl King, the first interactive art piece, which was acquired by the Guggenheim Museum for its permanent collection. She worked with Michael Moore on "The Awful Truth," his weekly documentary series.