Over one weekend in Bristol, TN, thousands of uninsured line up to receive, for free, the healthcare they desperately need.
A debate over healthcare has been raging nationwide, but what’s been lost in the discussion of mandates, payers, pre-existing conditions and deficits are the American citizens who live every day without proper access to healthcare, afraid of injury and suffering through minor illnesses in the hopes that they’ll just get better on their own. Remote Area Medical will document the annual two-day “pop-up” medical clinic put on by the non-profit Remote Area Medical (RAM) in the NASCAR speedway in Bristol, TN. Even though this small town is only a few hundred miles from our nation’s capitol, access to proper medical care for many in region might as well be worlds away.
Instead of a film about policy, about which system is better, will cover more, or cost less, Remote Area Medical will be a film about people, about a one-of-a-kind experience and an unlikely community that arises in the same place every year. Remote Area Medical will use the RAM experience as a window upon which to view a vast, unseen swath of American society.
Press
“Thoroughly cinematic...directed with poetic eloquence. A fascinating paean to altruism and a mournful portrait of troubled people in need of more than just a grassroots solution.”
Eric Kohn, Indiewire
“First rate. Anyone who believes, as Bush 43 claimed, that everyone in America can get the medical care they need by going to an emergency room should be forced to watch Remote Area Medical with their eyes in the kind of vise Kubrick applied to Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange.”
Amy Taubin, Art Forum
“A notable artistic achievement.”
Richard Brody, The New Yorker
Premieres & Awards
World Premiere
Full Frame Film Festival 2013
Audience Award: Best American Indie
RiverRun Fim Festival 2013
NPT Human Spirit Award
Nashville Film Festival 2013
Winner Best Documentary
Traverse City Film Festival 2013
Life and Liberty Award
Sidewalk Film Festival 2013
Best Film, Best Cinematography, and Audience Award
Hell's Half Mile Film Festival 2013
Winner Best Documentary
Hawaii Film Festival 2013
Honorable Mention: Best Documentary
Twin Cities Film Festival 2013
Official Selection 2013
Sarasota
Hot Docs
Maryland
Seattle
Berkshires
Lighthouse
AFI Docs
BAM Cinemafest
Maine International
Film Dayton
Global Peace Film Festival
Camden
Milwaukee
Citizen Jane
Tacoma
Flagstaff Mountain
Atlantic City
Tallgrass
Philadelphia
Virginia
Starz Denver
Fair Hope