Attention Must Be Paid: Women Lost in the Opioid Crisis

Jan 5, 6:30 pm

Filmmaker Debra Gonsher Vinik turns her lens on the opioid crisis, highlighting the women whose stories have long been overlooked. With more than 200,000 women lost to opioid use since 1999, this documentary brings urgent attention to their experiences and the epidemic’s growing toll. 

Moderator
Dr. Alëna A. Balasanova; UNMC

Panelists
Rosa Maldonado; Film Participant
Dr. Debra Goshner Vinik; Film Director
Melissa Neuenfeldt; HEAL Omaha

Special thanks to The Nebraska Harm Reduction Program.

Aftershock

Feb 2, 6:30 pm

The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income, developed countries with Black women facing disproportionately higher risks. Aftershock explores the unsettling magnitude of the U.S. maternal health crisis, while uplifting the families, activists, and birth workers who are striving to bring institutional change and save lives.

Moderator
Lauren Garcia, MPH; UNMC

Panelists
Michelle Coleman, MPH; I Be Black Girl
Nikeya Traynham, MPH, Full Spectrum Doula; A Mother's Love
Keyonna King, DrPH; UNMC

The White House Effect

Mar 2, 6:30 pm

Woven entirely of archival material, the documentary focuses on the pivotal years of the George H.W. Bush administration—1988 to 1992—when the entire country was waking up to the reality of global warming and Bush had pledged to use “the White House effect” to tackle it.

Moderator
Rachel Lookadoo; UNMC

Panelists
Kristina Kintziger, PhD, MPH; UNMC
Dr. Martha Durr, PhD; NICC
Sara McClure; The Nature Conservancy

WALL-E

Apr 6, 6:30 pm

It’s the twenty-ninth century, and humans have long since fled Earth for outer space, leaving WALL-E, the last functioning trash-compacting robot, to go about the work of cleaning up the planet. When he meets EVE, the pair are launched on an intergalactic quest to return humanity to Earth.

Moderator
Lauren Garcia, MPH; UNMC

Panelists
Julie M. Petersen, PhD, MPH; UNMC
Sarah E. Smith, MD; UNMC

Space Cowboy

May 4, 6:30 pm

Legendary aerial cinematographer Joe Jennings has spent decades soaring through the skies. But when tragedy struck, leaving him to navigate the skies alone, Jennings found solace in the clouds while grappling with profound grief and depression.

Moderator
Paul Weishapl; Director of the Nebraska Harm Reduction Program

Panelists
Tiffany Webb LIMHP, LMHP, LADC; Founder & CEO of Nala Care Mental Health
Leigh Cook, APRN-NP, FNP-C, PMHNP-BC; UNMC
Joseph Van Trimmel; Heart Ministry Center

The Florida Project

Jun 1, 6:30 pm

The story of a precocious six year-old and her ragtag group of friends whose summer break is filled with childhood wonder, possibility and a sense of adventure while the adults around them struggle with hard times.

Moderator
Paul Weishapl; Director of the Nebraska Harm Reduction Program

Panelists
Tamara Dwyer LIMPH, CMSW, LMSW; Homeless Services Coordinator for the City of Omaha Mayor's Office
Helen Grace DO; Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, UNMC
Joanna Preciado Alvarez BSPH; Community Health and Wellness Navigator, Center for Reducing Health Disparities, UNMC COPH

The Farewell

Jul 6, 6:30 pm

A Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only weeks left to live — but decides not to tell her. Under the joyful guise of a wedding, uniting family members navigate a minefield of familial expectations as they rediscover how family can unite and strengthen us, often in spite of ourselves.

Panelists and Moderator TBA!

Contagion

Aug 3, 6:30 pm

As a fast-moving epidemic grows, dedicated doctors at the CDC and World Health Organization race to contain the outbreak and find a cure as ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart.

Panelists and Moderator TBA!

Amour

Sep 7, 6:30 pm

Octogenarian couple Georges and Anne, both retired music teachers, have known a lifetime of love within their intimate marriage. When Anne has a stroke, the couple's bond of love is severely tested in a film that exalts the beauty, compassion, and courage within us all. 

Panelists and Moderator TBA!