My new documentary: "Dockside to Bedside: 100 Years of Herzl"

(above: Trailer for "Dockside to Bedside", 1 min.)

Friends,

Good news... The team and I have created a brand new hour-long TV documentary: "Dockside to Bedside: 100 Years of Herzl".

I spent a year as a “fly on the wall” at the Goldman Herzl Family Practice Centre at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, documenting the institution's mosaic of patients, staff and stories throughout its milestone 100th anniversary year.

Located in the unlikely locale of a former Catholic convent on the grounds of Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital in Côte-des-Neiges (Canada’s most multicultural neighbourhood), Herzl is one of Canada's first free medical clinics and an innovative healthcare model. For a century, it has pushed the boundaries in areas as varied as family medicine, breastfeeding, teen health, urgent care, home visits for the elderly, drug addiction, palliative care and many more. 

Herzl patient Julie Lindsay, her newborn daughter, 

and Herzl's head lactation consultant, Carole Dobrich  

The film looks back at the clinic’s hundred-year history, from makeshift dockside dispensary serving newly arrived Jewish immigrants and Montreal’s poor, through its transformation into part of the bedrock of Canada’s medical landscape, becoming a recognized leader in preventive medicine and compassionate care. Today it thrives under Dr. Michael Malus, who is Herzl’s Director and the Jewish General's Chief of Family Medicine.

Dr. Michael Malus, Chief of Herzl

The film has an original score by Josh "Socalled" Dolgin (who scored my earlier films "Man of Grease" and "Posthumous Pickle Party") and was narrated by former CBC anchor Dennis Trudeau. It was produced by my wife, Alexandra Yanofsky and my old friend Christos Sourligas. Phyllis Lewis (who edited the Oscar winning NFB short "The Danish Poet") edited the film and Natalie Karneef wrote and researched it. Post sound and mixing was done by Matt Sherman of Gift of Sound and onlining was done by Rachelle Hamilton. The film is distributed by Incendo Media. A great big thanks to all the above and the entire team and all the staff and patients at the Herzl Family Practice Centre for creating this project with me.

Herzl's Dr. Mark Karanofsky kibbitzes with patients 

If you're in Montreal, tune in to City TV Montreal on Saturday, September 21st at 8pm, to watch the film. During the coming months, I'll have updates up at EzSez.com with additional broadcast dates, public screenings and ways for people outside of Montreal to see the film. 

Health to all from Montreal,

Ez

Update:  On September 18th, we received a great review from Mike Cohen at The Suburban. You can read it here.