Screening Time: Saturday, May 13, 6:00 PM, Charles Theatre 2

Director: Steve Ascher, Jeanne Jordan

Cast: Stephen Heywood, Jamie Heywood, Ben Heywood, Wendy Stacy Heywood, Melinda Heywood, Peggy Heywood, John Heywood, Robert Bonazoli, Ken Thompson

Country: USA
Year: 2005
Running Time: 87:00 minutes
Format: Beta SP

No one knows much about ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Relative to other diseases, it attacks a relatively small number of people, and that is why it hasn’t received the kind of research funds that are devoted to cancer or HIV/AIDS. But, when it attacks, it attacks ferociously; once afflicted you have about five years to live.

When 29 year-old Stephen Heywood finds out he has ALS, he and his family choose to fight. Practical and smart, they accept the protocols of scientific research, but they don’t like the pace. Led by brother James, they create their own research operation, recruit a top team, and raise money.

One of the filmmakers’ Mother has ALS, and when they read a New Yorker profile of the Heywoods, they knew they had their subject. Told with unbelievable humor and an intensity most fiction films only aspire to, the filmmakers take us along as a charming and determined family fight for one of their own.

-- Jed Dietz

Presented By: Steve Ascher

Steve Ascher is partnered with Jeanne Jordan in West City Films. They make documentaries, dramas and projects for TV, corporations and nonprofits. They won the Grand Jury and Audience Awards at Sundance, and were nominated for an Academy Award, for their film Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern.