Monday, April 11, 2022 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV / On demand with KPBS Passport!
The story of one warmhearted, stubborn man’s visionary quest to find a cure for cancer, "Jim Allison: Breakthrough" from filmmaker Bill Haney is an homage to an unconventional superhero — a pioneering, harmonica-playing scientist who triumphed over a doubtful medical establishment to save innumerable lives around the world.
“We are facing a global health challenge that knows no boundaries or race or religion, and we are all relying on gifted and passionate scientists and healthcare workers to contain and ultimately beat this thing. Jim Allison and the unrelenting scientists like him are my heroes – and I’ll bet they become yours!” –Director, Bill Haney
In 2018, Jim Allison won the Nobel Prize for discovering the immune system’s role in defeating cancer, but his lengthy journey to get there was filled with barriers and criticism.
Praised as not only “the most cheering film of the year” but also as “absorbing, gracefully constructed and [a] deeply moving documentary” by the Washington Post, "Jim Allison: Breakthrough" premiered on INDEPENDENT LENS in 2020.
With the help of narrator Woody Harrelson, Haney spotlights the perseverance of Allison starting with his days as a young, curious boy growing up in Texas whose life is shattered when he loses his mother to cancer.
He grows into a headstrong, shaggy-haired, music-loving college student fascinated by immunotherapy, and he starts on a path to find a cure for the disease that so profoundly impacted his life. His research leads him to the discovery of the T-cell receptor, and its role in fighting cancer.
Allison’s seminal discovery put him at odds with the entire medical community at the time, as he endured repeated setbacks, personal and professional, from a system not built to encourage breakthrough innovation. His vision was wildly creative and unconventional for someone in the medical profession in the 1980s.
"Jim Allison: Breakthrough" chronicles a hero’s triumph over incessant skepticism and resistance from the powerful pharmaceutical companies and the medical establishment.
Featuring interviews with family, Allison’s colleagues and past students, immunology experts, and patients, the film paints a colorful portrait of Allison; not just of a strong-willed and passionate scientist, but a humble man, a talented musician and dedicated Willie Nelson fan who just wanted to do some good in the world.
Haney expertly interweaves Allison’s personal story with the medical case of Sharon Belvin, a patient diagnosed with melanoma who enrolled in Allison’s trials in 2006. Since then, she has been entirely cancer-free.
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Credits:
Writer/ Director / Producer: Bill Haney. Producer: Jennifer Pearce. Editor: Peter Rhodes. Music: Mark Orton and Mickey Raphael. Animation: Molly Schwartz. Executive Producers: Tim Disney, R.J. Cutler, Maura McCarthy, Michael Eisenson and Sean E. Reilly.
“We're delighted to champion films that celebrate the perseverance of trailblazers and world changers like Jim Allison,” said INDEPENDENT LENS Executive Producer Lois Vossen. “'Jim Allison: Breakthrough' reminds us all to keep pushing and fighting if we believe in something, despite adversity. It is a vivid reminder that the path to greatness is seldom easy, but always worthwhile.”
