On Wednesday, a FDA panel unanimously recommended that the agency approve the first gene therapy treatment ever to reach the market. We documented this gene therapy with Cinelan for GE’s Focus Forward films, where Dr. Carl June details how they are re-engineering the HIV virus to reprogram a patient’s immune system to combat cancer cells.
“GE Fire with Fire”
Our friends at the digital studio Cinelan had the bold idea to make short films focused on the simple idea of innovation, for GE. Directed by our compatriot, the Academy Award winner Ross Kauffman, “Fire with Fire” tells how the oncology researcher Dr. Carl June daringly pitted one epic disease against another to cure leukemia. Penn Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHoP) trusted us with their patients and with the science. We were proud to have our film showcased at the Sundance Film Festival and garner over 5 million hits across digital platforms. But what blew us away was when Dr. June told us the film has opened a clearer path to federal funding for cancer research.
“GE Fire with Fire” is also available to watch on the Focus Forward Films website. Watch it here.
About the Filmmakers: Ross Kauffman & Robin Honan
Ross Kauffman is the Academy Award winning director, producer, cinematographer and co-editor of Born Into Brothels, which won the Oscar® for Best Documentary 2005 as well as the Emmy for Best Documentary 2005. The film’s accolades include National Board of Review Best Documentary 2004, LA Film Critics Best Documentary 2004 and the 2004 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award. With Katy Chevigny, Ross co-directed E-Team, an award-winning NetFlix feature documentary about Human Rights Watch emergency investigators. Ross executive produced the award-winning documentary In A Dream (directed by Jeremiah Zagar) and was a producer of Academy Award-nominated Postergirl. Ross is regarded as a top documentary cinematographer, and has worked on projects such as PBS’s Half the Sky and Morgan Spurlock’s Comicon. Ross has shot, directed and edited short documentaries and branded content for DB Productions since 2009.
Robin Honan is an Academy Award-nominated documentary producer and filmmaker, and produced on the Oscar-winning documentary FREEHELD (2008) as well as the 26-minute short BORN SWEET (2010). Her Oscar-nominated, HBO film MONDAYS AT RACINE (2013) celebrates a Long Island hair salon that offers free services to women undergoing cancer treatment, helping them restore a sense of beauty following the ravages of chemotherapy. Honan also produced the 2009 Sundance Channel feature length documentary LIVING THE LEGACY, which documents a year in the life of a free private school for underprivileged students founded by chocolatier Milton Hershey over one hundred years ago. As a Producer/Director with award-winning DB Productions in New York City, Honan crafts intimate profiles and identity films for a wide range of non-profit and corporate clients. In 2012, she produced the short documentary FIRE WITH FIRE, which currently has over 3 million views on YouTube, and tells the tale of a renegade oncologist who has cured leukemia in ten patients, including three children, by using a disarmed form of the HIV virus to attack cancer cells. More recently, Honan directed and produced films for a landmark Alzheimer’s clinical trial, as well as short documentaries about Head Start-Trauma Smart and The New York Foundling.