Fight for Good: One Body One Soul
Documentary | 29 min | USA
ABOUT THE FILM
Fight for Good: One Body One Soul is a short documentary created by Buffalo Documentary Project. It tells how Buffalo’s Community Health Center (CHCB) responded to the COVID-19 pandemic as the crisis moved into its second year. As racial disparities persist in the everyday lives of underserved communities of color, COVID-19 has presented us with new challenges of vaccine hesitancy and outright refusal. CHCB’s leader and providers go into the community in an endless effort to continue to fight the pandemic and provide healthcare for the most disadvantaged populations residing in the cities of Buffalo and Niagara Falls. This film shows how CHCB leaders present candid community voices that offer an effective way to respond to unprecedented difficulties encountered in the current COVID-19 and future pandemics.
FILMMAKERS
Director and Editor: Mani Mehrvarz
Featuring: Dr. Lavonne Ansari, Dr. Kenyani Davis, Marsha McWilson, Raymond Allen, Chaointe Scott, Malik Campbell, Kenny Harris
Producer: Community Health Center of Buffalo, Inc.
Director of Photography: Matthew A. Nardone
Art Director: Maryam Muliaee
Executive Producer: Naila Ansari
Audio: Michael Bouquard
Camera Operator: Joe Blodgett
Photography: Jacob Vogan
Gaffers: Mark Pasqualotto
Credit Music: Ethan Hayden
Music: Edoy, Kai Engel, Three Chain Links
STATEMENT
By Dr. LaVonne Ansari
When we began our “Fight For Good” journey, our initial objectives in collaborating with the Buffalo Documentary Project were simple. We wanted to capture our experiences as community healthcare providers and impact our patients, family members, and friends. While we recorded our stories, we also unexpectedly found ourselves engaging in deep self-reflection and giving voice to our vulnerabilities and the genuine, increasingly evident obstacles posed by systemic racism and healthcare inequities.
As this pandemic continued to twist and turn, both the community and providers had to learn from each other. Through community education, we began to see rays of light break through the darkness in the form of fast-track vaccines and life-saving treatments. Although the bombardment of misinformation was a significant obstacle in giving vaccines to communities of color, we did not give up on finding creative ways to vaccinate. Ultimately, I believe our answers lie within our collective selves.
Fight for Good: One Body One Soul shows the COVID-19 pandemic active in our communities and that we are all connected to what affects one, affects all. Nature does not give an advantage to where you live, rich over poor, or one person is better than another. Fight For Good: One Body One Soul continues to capture our history of fighting for all that is good.
BEHIND THE SCENES
photo credit: Jacob Vogan
PRIVATE SCREENING EVENT
photo credit: Jacob Vogan
