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Cancer – A Biography

The Emperor of All Maladies

The story of the war on cancer spans centuries and continents. It is a scientific story, but also a deeply human one: of doctors, researchers, and especially patients who – through courage, suffering, and occasional hubris – pushed the boundaries of knowledge. These people and communities helped define cancer as the scourge of the modern age, and then mobilized the federal government and private industry to wage an all-out campaign against it – a campaign we are still fighting.

The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee and tells the complete story of cancer, from its first description to modern research.

Part 1: A sweeping historical narrative with intimate stories about contemporary patients: The search for a cure for cancer is the greatest epic in the history of science. It spans centuries and continents and is full of its share of heroes, villains, and sudden vertiginous twists.

Part 2: An investigation into the latest scientific breakthroughs that may have brought us, at long last, to the brink of lasting cures. The bewildering complexity of the cancer cell, so recently considered unassailable, yields to a more ordered picture, revealing new vulnerabilities and avenues of attack.

ARTE Version: Written and Directed by: MAREIKE MÜLLER ● Director of Photography: KNUT SCHMITZ ● Editor: MARCEL OZAN RIEDEL ● Sound: ZORA BUTZKE, MARTIN LANOT ● Associate Producer: CARMEL FUHG ● Associate Producer ZDF/ARTE: KERSTIN HARMS ● Additional Music: TIM STANZEL ● Commissioning Editor ZDF/ARTE: LINDE DEHNER ● Executive Producer: ANTJE BOEHMERT    

Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies – A Film by: Barak Goodman ● Writers: Geoffrey Ward & Ken Burns, Barak Goodman & David Blister ● Editor: Peter R. Livingston, Jr. ● Music: David Cieri ● Executive producer: Ken Burns, Dalton Delan, David S. Thompson, Pamela Oas Williams, Laura Ziskin ● Director: Jack Youngelson, Barak Goodman ● Vice President, WETA Production Management: Jim Corbley ● Vice President, National Engagement & Interactive Media: Anne Harrington

Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies – is a production of Florentine Films, Laura Ziskin Pictures and WETA Washington, DC, in association with Ark Media, the only responsibles for the content of the WETA Series.  © WETA und Laura Ziskin Pictures, Inc. 2015

 

Buy the DVD online here:

   

ARTE World-Cancer-Day Special:

Written & Directed by: Mareike Müller
Camera: Knut Schmitz
Editor: Marcel Ozan Riedel
Associate Producer: Carmel Fuhg
Additional Music: Tim Stanzel
Executive Producer: Antje Boehmert

In co-production with ZDF/ARTE. Sales: PBS Distribution.

Length: 2 x 52min
Release Date: 2017

The story of the war on cancer spans centuries and continents. It is a scientific story, but also a deeply human one: of doctors, researchers, and especially patients who – through courage, suffering, and occasional hubris – pushed the boundaries of knowledge. These people and communities helped define cancer as the scourge of the modern age, and then mobilized the federal government and private industry to wage an all-out campaign against it – a campaign we are still fighting.

The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee and tells the complete story of cancer, from its first description to modern research.

Part 1: A sweeping historical narrative with intimate stories about contemporary patients: The search for a cure for cancer is the greatest epic in the history of science. It spans centuries and continents and is full of its share of heroes, villains, and sudden vertiginous twists.

Part 2: An investigation into the latest scientific breakthroughs that may have brought us, at long last, to the brink of lasting cures. The bewildering complexity of the cancer cell, so recently considered unassailable, yields to a more ordered picture, revealing new vulnerabilities and avenues of attack.

ARTE World-Cancer-Day Special:

Written & Directed by: Mareike Müller
Camera: Knut Schmitz
Editor: Marcel Ozan Riedel
Associate Producer: Carmel Fuhg
Additional Music: Tim Stanzel
Executive Producer: Antje Boehmert

In co-production with ZDF/ARTE. World Sales: PBS Distribution.

Length: 2 x 52min
Release Date: 2017