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It takes Guts |
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The feature documentary "It takes Guts" follows director Adrienne Grierson as she investigates and undergoes a controversial but promising new procedure: Fecal Microbiata Transplantation. Part sperm donation, part blood transfusion, donor poop is highly tested, cleaned, reduced mostly to its useful bacteria, and then “transplanted” to the patient’s colon in the hopes of repopulating their disrupted biomes with healthier bacteria. FMT is at the forefront of a major paradigm shift in scientific thinking which argues that our gut bacteria is a critical protagonist in the story of human disease. With her own health at stake, Grierson fearlessly strikes out--with humor and hope--to meet donors, doctors and patients, and to determine whether FMT is, as many believe, a game changing treatment not only for digestive troubles that defy diagnosis, but chronic and debilitating diseases like Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis, Parkinson’s, MS, and even Autism.
Grierson will also connect with the growing DIY community who have elected to "take matters into their own hands". Many are from the U.S. where FMT remains illegal to administer with rare exceptions like unresponsive Clostridium Difficile which killed 29,000 Americans in 2011 within 30 days of contracting the infection. These numbers were partially responsible for the FDA's 2013 decision to classify FMT as an investigational drug, allowing physicians and scientists to submit an IND (investigative new drug application). For Grierson, like countless others, the stakes are high and her candid, no shame approach keeps the film intimate, bold, and on the front lines of the science and medicine it investigates. Unprecedented and exclusive access to the leading pioneers of this paradigm shift--from Los Angeles California, Australia and Argentina to the UK, Brazil, Canada, China, Portugal and beyond--promises to make the film a feat of global journalism and a humorous, poignant, and human story of extraordinary breadth. --------------------------------------- |