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American Masters – Oliver Sacks: His Own Life National Event
Join audiences nationwide on Tuesday, March 30, 2021, at 7:00 pm ET, for a virtual celebration of American Masters – Oliver Sacks: His Own Life featuring highlights from the film and a panel discussion with Ric Burns (Director, Oliver Sacks: His Own Life), Kate Edgar (Executive Director, The Oliver Sacks Foundation) and Dr. Blanca Valdovinos (Director, Spanish Language Neurology Clinic, University of Rochester Medical Center) moderated by Jenna Flanagan (Host, MetroFocus, The WNET Group).
7 - 8:30 p.m.
American Masters – Oliver Sacks: His Own Life explores the life and work of the legendary neurologist and storyteller as he shares intimate details of his battles with drug addiction, homophobia, and a medical establishment that accepted his work only decades after the fact. Sacks, known for his literary works Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, was a fearless explorer of unknown cognitive worlds who helped redefine our understanding of the brain and mind, the diversity of human experience, and our shared humanity.
The film features exclusive interviews with Sacks conducted just weeks after he received a terminal diagnosis, and months prior to his death in August 2015, and nearly two dozen deeply revealing and personal interviews with family members, colleagues, patients and close friends, including Jonathan Miller, Robert Silvers, Temple Grandin, Christof Koch, Robert Krulwich, Lawrence Weschler, Roberto Calasso, Paul Theroux, Bill Hayes, Kate Edgar, and Atul Gawande, among others. The film also draws on unique access to the extensive archives of the Oliver Sacks Foundation.