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CNN
14-05-2025
- Health
- CNN
CNN Films Launches Doc Examining the Rise of Early-Onset Cancer
May 14th, 2025 NEW YORK – (May 14, 2025) – Today CNN announced the commission of a feature documentary from CNN Films that explores the rise of cancers in adults under 50. Directed by Emmy®, Peabody, and two-time WGA Award nominee Janet Tobias (CNN Films Unseen Enemy and Race for the Vaccine ), the film follows cancer patients and the doctors, scientists, nurses and social workers who care for them at one of the world's leading cancer centers, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). Presented by CNN Films, In the Prime of Life (w/t) is a Global Health Reporting Center and HHMI Tangled Bank Studios production and will premiere in 2026. In the US and around the world, a disease once thought of as affecting the elderly is increasingly becoming a disease of adults in the prime of their lives. 'Early onset' cancer, cancer affecting adults from 18-49, increased globally by a staggering 79% between 1990 and 2019. As scientists around the world are trying to comprehend what is causing this broad rise, In the Prime of Life (w/t) takes us inside Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where Tobias follows a small group of patients as they deal with their cancer diagnosis, treatment, and the effect of the disease. With her signature blend of curiosity and empathy, Tobias documents every aspect of their lives – from dating and marriage to work and finances, from sexuality and fertility to friendship and parenting. For the first time in its history, MSK is granting exclusive access to their doctors, scientists and other staff as they race to understand and treat these patients' disease and work to provide specialized support for this rising population. 'We are thrilled to partner with CNN Films and Amy Entelis again to bring this film to audiences,' said Tobias. 'It is my privilege to document the journey of a group of younger cancer patients and their families, as well as highlight the work of MSK physicians, nurses, and social workers as they tackle this critical public health issue.' 'CNN Films has a long history of journalistic explorations into the scientific discovery process and Janet brings an illuminating and empathic touch as she puts a human face on early onset cancer,' said Amy Entelis, executive vice president of talent, CNN Originals, and creative development for CNN Worldwide. 'It is an honor to reteam with her along with our partners at HHMI Tangled Bank Studios to raise awareness for this important research.' 'We are delighted to work with Janet and the team at CNN Films to give audiences an inside look at the cutting edge of cancer research and treatment,' said Executive Producer and Head of HHMI Tangled Bank Studios Jared Lipworth. 'We hope these stories will highlight the vital role science plays in saving lives and lead young people to understand the risks and available treatments and seek out early screening options.' Presented by CNN Films, In The Prime of Life (w/t) is a Global Health Reporting Center and HHMI Tangled Bank Studios production. The film is directed by Janet Tobias and produced by Roger Lopez of the Global Health Reporting Center. Executive producers are Amy Entelis and Roxanna Sherwood for CNN Films along with Jared Lipworth and Chad Cohen for HHMI Tangled Bank Studios. Zac James Nicholson is the cinematographer. In The Prime of Life (w/t) is the third film jointly produced by HHMI Tangled Bank Studios and Tobias' Global Health Reporting Center. The CNN Film, Race for the Vaccine , focused on the development of the COVID vaccine and debuted on cable network in 2021. Ending HIV in America premiered on NOVA in fall 2022. ### About CNN Originals The CNN Originals group develops, produces and acquires original, long-form unscripted programming for CNN Worldwide. Amy Entelis, executive vice president of talent, CNN Originals and creative development, oversees the award-winning CNN Originals portfolio that includes the following premium content brands: CNN Original Series, CNN Films, CNN Presents, and the newly formed CNN Studios, an internal production studio which creates long-form programming for CNN's global platforms. Since 2012, the team has overseen and executive produced more than 45 multi-part documentary series and 60 feature-length documentary films, earning more than 110 awards and 445 nominations for the cable network, including CNN Films' first Academy Award® for Navalny . Acclaimed titles include the Peabody Award winning and 13-time Emmy® Award-winning Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown ; five time Emmy® nominee, Apollo 11 , directed by Todd Douglas Miller; Emmy® nominated Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico ; the Emmy® Award-nominated 'Decades Series': The Sixties , The Seventies , The Eighties , The Nineties , The 2000s , and The 2010s, executive produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman; The Last Movie Stars , directed by Ethan Hawke about the lives and careers of actors and humanitarians Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman; Grammy® Award nominee Little Richard: I Am Everything , directed by Lisa Cortés; The Many Lives of Martha Stewart ; This is Life with Lisa Ling ; Primetime Emmy® and duPont-Columbia Award-winning, RBG , directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen; See It Loud: The History of Black Television , executive produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter; Space Shuttle Columbia: The Final Flight in partnership with the BBC; the Producers Guild Award and three-time Emmy® Award-winning Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy ; BAFTA nominee and Directors Guild Award winner, Three Identical Strangers , directed by Tim Wardle; and the five-time Emmy® Award-winning United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell ; and the five-time Emmy® Award-winning The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper . CNN Originals can be seen on CNN, the CNN Original Hub on Max and discovery+, and for pay TV subscription via CNN apps and cable operator platforms. About Global Health Reporting Center The Global Health Reporting Center (GHRC) is an independent, nonprofit newsroom committed to producing in-depth content about the vital health challenges of our time. About HHMI Tangled Bank Studios HHMI Tangled Bank Studios is a mission-driven production company that seeks to shine a light on some of the most significant scientific challenges and breakthroughs of our time. Recent films include Blue Carbon , Every Little Thing, Wild Hope, Hunt for the Oldest DNA, Wilding , Blue Whales: Return of the Giants , and Oscar-nominated All That Breathes , the only film to win best documentary at both the Sundance and Cannes film festivals. Other notable films include Emmy Award-winners The Serengeti Rules and The Farthest – Voyager In Space ; Emmy-nominated Hunt for the Oldest DNA , My Garden of a Thousand Bees, Battle to Beat Malaria, and Nature's Fear Factor ; and Peabody Award winner Inventing Tomorrow . To extend the reach and impact of each film, the studio undertakes educational and public outreach efforts in partnership with purpose-focused organizations. For more information, please visit CNN Films Press Contacts
Daily Record
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Netflix fans have just days left to see 'must watch' documentary that changed everything
Centred around the captivity of Tilikum, an orca that was blamed for the deaths of three humans, Blackfish speaks to the consequences of keeping these wild creatures in captivity and features footage from some of the actual attacks. 'You won't forget Cowperthwaite's documentary, and you shouldn't,' says one critic of the 2013 documentary film, Blackfish. Having premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, 2013, Blackfish was picked up by CNN Films and Magnolia Pictures for a wider release. So impactful was Gabriela Cowperthwaite's Blackfish, it was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary. Slated to leave Netflix on 1 June, viewers only have a few days left to catch this cinematically gut-wrenching offering. Centred around the captivity of Tilikum, an orca that was blamed for the deaths of three humans, Blackfish speaks to the consequences of keeping these beautiful, wild creatures in captivity. Featuring footage from some of the actual attacks, the documentary also includes coverage from 1983 — the year Tilikum was captured off the coast of Iceland. Lending an insight into the orca's purported harassment by fellow captive orcas at Sealand, Blackfish sees Cowperthwaite arguing about the contribution of these incidents to Tilikum's fatal aggression. The documentary film also features footage of Tilikum's attacks on trainers and other orcas in captivity, as well as interviews from witnesses and SeaWorld trainers. Cowperthwaite began working on the film following the death of Tilikum's trainer, Dawn Brancheau, in February 2010. The incident sparked speculation that the orca had targeted Brancheau because she wore her hair in a ponytail. Cowperthwaite contended that this was mere conjecture and believed that "there had to be more to this story." The vice president for zoological operations at SeaWorld San Diego - Michael Scarpuzzi, said Blackfish had misused Brancheau's death and its gruesome details not to 'inform the public, but, rather regrettably, because of the desire to sensationalize." He said in a statement: "We have altered how we care for, display and train these extraordinary animals. We have changed the facilities, equipment and procedures at our killer whale habitats. The care and educational presentation of these animals at SeaWorld has been made safer than ever. Does Blackfish inform its viewers of that fact? No, it does not." Critic and audience reviews for the documentary were filled with praise, as people connected to the heartbreaking subject matter of Blackfish. One critic said: 'That Blackfish led SeaWorld to phase out both orca breeding and performances speaks to how we should view the film's legacy over ten years later.' Another one called it: 'An illuminating documentary not only about the cruel conditions that killer whales endure at theme parks such as SeaWorld, but the biology and psychology of the mysterious and majestic sea wolf.' While one review said: 'There are few movies that can change the way you see the world in 83 minutes. If Blackfish is seen by enough people, it has the power to affect attendance at SeaWorld,' another said: '[It] remains decidedly one-sided. But when that "side" is such a vital, convincing proponent for the greater protection and understanding of such evolved and majestic creatures, it can't help but win.' Audiences were blown away by Cowperthwaite's film, as one detailed review said: 'While walking through the St. Louis Zoo recently, my mind kept coming back to this wonderful documentary about the controversial captivity of killer whales used in theme parks, particularly Sea World. And looking into the eyes of the animals we passed, I found my heart breaking just a little. This film has forever altered my feelings about animal confinement for human enjoyment, and that's the mark of a powerful movie. 'The story of an orca named Tilikum, who ended up killing three people, including a whale trainer, is one I will never forget. And the interviews with witnesses and experts are not only informative but often heartrending. I'm an animal lover, not necessarily an animal LOVER, but this documentary gave me a new appreciation and even respect for the creatures around us and how humans often exploit them.' Another viewer said: 'I tear up every time I watch this, so gut-wrenching but so good. It makes me angry about the world and how humans exploit animals, but it also makes me happy to see the people who truly care. This is a MUST SEE!!' One audience review of the documentary bluntly said: 'Really, really, really f*cking disturbing and disgusting. So many moments where it was borderline too hard to watch, but it had to be seen so we could get the intended message and effect.'
New York Times
28-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The Best True Crime to Stream: 1970s and '80s Kidnappings
'Chowchilla' It took just a few minutes into this 2023 documentary for me to be dumbfounded that I had never heard about this chapter in American history, when an entire school bus of children and their driver, 27 people in total, disappeared mid-route on a hot summer day in 1976 in the small California town of Chowchilla. What unfolded from there and the motivation behind the kidnapping are beyond imagination. In fact, those responsible for the crime were inspired in part by the Clint Eastwood movie 'Dirty Harry.' In this documentary, from CNN Films and streaming on Max, we hear from some of the abductees, who recall the experience in great detail. Unlike many other such stories, we learn quickly that no one died in the ordeal, but that doesn't make the decades-long fallout less tragic. The trauma was so acute that the survivors were able to help catapult the field of child psychology forward. 'Chowchilla children are heroes,' Lenore C. Terr, a child psychiatrist who has studied the victims in depth, said in the film. 'And they continue to teach us what childhood trauma is.' 'The Beauty Queen Killer: 9 Days of Terror' For this three-part 2024 docuseries from ABC News, Tina Marie Risico — who survived a nightmarish nine days with the serial killer Christopher Wilder in 1984 before he made the astonishing decision to release her — sits down to tell her story for the first time. As part of a brazen coast-to-coast string of abductions and murders, Risico, then 16, was kidnapped from a shopping mall near her home of Torrance, Calif. Wilder, who posed as a photographer and had embedded himself in circles where he was often surrounded by girls and young women, had told Risico he could help her become a model. From there, he raped and tortured Risico, and forced her to participate in a brutal crime involving Dawnette Sue Wilt. We also hear from Wilt in the series, which is available to stream on Hulu and Disney+. There's a lot to examine here, but what stuck with me was how the public's mood around Risico quickly soured when she opted out of the media's demands for a perfect victim. Her behavior in the aftermath resulted in Risico becoming the target of skepticism and even suspicion that she was Wilder's accomplice. 'Abducted in Plain Sight' When I first heard of this story about the kidnapping of Jan Broberg, it seemed on the surface like many other stories of abductions: a child is taken by someone close to the family — in this case Robert 'B' Berchtold — and, after an expansive manhunt, is eventually brought home, though forever changed. But my curiosity grew when I learned that the yearslong saga, which began in 1972, had inspired a dramatized 2022 mini-series starring Jake Lacy and Anna Paquin. The mini-series in part stemmed from this 2017 documentary from the director Skye Borgman, based on the book 'Stolen Innocence: The Jan Broberg Story,' by Jan's mother. The documentary includes interviews with Broberg, her sisters and her parents, as well as the lead F.B.I. special agent who had worked on the case. This bizarre tale is made more disorienting because her parents were exceedingly naïve, to the point of complicity. When Berchtold, a predator of the highest order, entered the orbit of their tightknit, churchgoing Idaho community, there was no limit to the chaos he was able to sow. Every revelation in this film is more jaw-dropping than the one before, and it's a story so unnerving, I've never quite been able to shake it. 'Crime Junkie': 'Precedent: Adam Walsh' Perhaps the most culturally impactful child abduction of the 1980s was that of Adam Walsh, who was 6 years old when he was taken from a shopping mall near his family home in South Florida in 1981. When his severed head was found in a drainage canal a couple of weeks later, it stoked the 'stranger danger' panic that was bubbling up in the United States. Adam's father, John Walsh, went on to co-found the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in 1984 and to host the long-running program 'America's Most Wanted.' But it would take decades for his parents to get closure, primarily because of the gross mismanagement of the case by local law enforcement. In under 30 minutes of this prolific podcast, hosted by Ashley Flowers and her best friend from childhood, Brit Prawat, we learn what transpired from the day Adam went missing to the sprawling effects of his murder, which led to systems that are still relied upon today. 'In the Dark': Season 1 I included this entry in a previous installment of this streaming list, one that focused on some of the scariest stories across true crime, but the abduction here is so shocking and had such far-reaching repercussions, it bears repeating. In 1989, 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling was kidnapped on a dead-end country road in his small Minnesota town. The incident fueled the already fast-growing national paranoia that pedophiles were snatching up America's children. The search that followed was one of the largest manhunts in U.S. history, though the investigation was egregiously mishandled — as the host Madeleine Baran, an investigative journalist, and a team of reporters make clear over nine episodes and two bonus episodes of this American Public Media podcast (it found a new home at The New Yorker in 2023). For 27 years, there were no answers, but a couple of weeks before this season was set to debut, in 2016, Wetterling's remains were discovered, changing everything and placing the case breathlessly in the present.
