Saturday, May 8, 4:30 PM, Charles Theatre 2

Director: Ted Bogosian

Cast: Arlo Guthrie, Bill McBride, Virginia Coolkasian, Jim Pollard, Bonnie Hennig

Country: U.S.
Year: 2004
Running Time: 30 minutes
Format: Beta SP

Huntington's Disease might provide the perfect way to examine the ethical issues surrounding emerging genetic research. It's an inherited disease that brutally decimates those who have it. There is no cure. Each child of an affected parent has tough choices to make, and, thanks to genetic research, those choices have changed significantly.

When Woody Guthrie's children watched their father die, the only way for them to know if they were Huntington's Disease carriers was to wait to see if they developed symptoms. Key decisions - whether to marry and whether to have children, for instance - had to be made knowing that they had a 50/50 chance of dying from the disease, and then a 50/50 chance of passing it along to children.

Genetic research has changed all that. Any child of an affected parent can test anytime and know with certainty whether or not they are a carrier. The personal stakes are enormous. Would you want to know? When? The creative team of Tom Fontana, Ted Bogosian, and Barry Levinson has decided to blend documentary and fictional film techniques to create a powerful story that lets the viewer experience some of the ethical issues in a highly personal way.

This is a roughly 30 minute experiment that was initially screened in a slightly different version at this year's Full Frame Documentary Festival, where it caused a sensation. This version has never been seen by an audience.

-- Jed Dietz

Having started with the hit series St Elsewhere, Tom Fontana partnered with Barry Levinson to develop Homicide: Life on the Street into a legendary NBC series. He created the much-lauded Oz for HBO, and he and Barry are teaming up again on the forthcoming The Jury.

Ted Bogosian, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, has produced several major series for PBS, including Lost Treasures of Christianity, Running Mate, and War in the Wind. He directed The Press Secretary, about three days inside the Clinton White House, and he wrote, produced, and directed the twice Emmy-nominated Anatomy of a Homicide: Life on the Street.