BLOOD & HONEY presents a radically different view of what it means to live with diabetes. This feature-length documentary film will enable audiences to see the chronically ill in a way they never could have imagined: as a valuable teachers.
We live in a society that views the chronically ill as victims because we only see the negative side of suffering. As a result, the person with diabetes is primed to view their experience as something to be pitied. We all lose.
The
issues associated with chronic illness—uncertainty, loss, change, mortality—are common to us all. Yet people with diabetes must grapple with these
issues daily. Sometimes hourly. Diabetes never takes a vacation.
Whether we’re facing the death of a parent, the loss of a job, the pain of divorce, or the hardship of chronic illness, we all struggle with how to cope. Most people spend their entire lives trying to escape these painful issues. But some choose to confront them head-on.
People who have lived with diabetes for years are in a unique position. Those who choose to face their problems acquire hard-earned knowledge about how to both accept and transcend suffering. And yet, the insights gained from their struggles remain their own.
This film will pose the simple but bold question: How can everyone benefit from the wisdom of those who have spent years learning how to live well in the face of such unremitting pain and suffering?
With great candor, three women and men who have lived with diabetes for over twenty years show us how their lives and self-awareness have been transformed. They live with restrictions that require great discipline. At first they experienced the necessary changes as a loss of freedom. But today they also recognize the invaluable knowledge, depth, and perspectives they have gained. They are our mentors.
Other guides—such as African medicine man Malidoma Patrice Some’, philosopher Susan Wendell, psychologist Barbara Anderson, and Guatemalan shaman Martin Prechtel—will share their understanding of how facing adversity strengthens us. They will shed light on how undergoing a crisis can serve as an initiation into a new phase of growth.
Through the lens of these teachers, our culture will be forever altered as we come to re-envision such adversity as an essential contribution to our evolution as human beings.
Read more about the film in Diabetes Health magazine article
Read Jessica Bernstein's L.A. Times article on the myth of control
Read about our film team
Watch Blood & Honey sample reel