The specter of world-wide epidemics now includes the disturbing increase in cases of Long Covid, a doubling of the number of people afflicted with Parkinson’s, and extreme heat epidemics, all of which were unheard of not many years ago. For the most part vaccines have come to our rescue in the past, but not all epidemics can be stopped with vaccines.

            For the first night of our two-part series on September 24^th, we will introduce the basics of epidemics—causation, research, and treatment—as they have been dramatized in films, both classics and documentaries. We will screen Cooked: Survival by Zipcode, directed by Judith Helfand, who brilliantly dissects how it was possible that 739 African Americans died during the extreme heat epidemic in Chicago in July, 1995.

            For the second night on October 15^th we will screen films that have confronted the controversies associated with polio, HIV/AIDS, and Parkinson’s, in order to judge how the medical establishment and government authorities confront difficult life and death choices. Film titles to be announced.

            The host for the series is Tom Zaniello, professor emeritus of literature and film studies, who has published extensively on the relationships of film, popular culture, and social class. His latest book, Epidemic Films To Die For: A Chronicle of the Covid-19 Plague Years, will be published in October.