It’s not every day that a documentary has the pressure to be both entertaining and a public health warning. However, the unrated directing duo of Sarah Schenck and Stephen Lawrence now stand proudly behind their finished work. The invisible extinction.
“Audiences loved the film on the festival circuit,” Stephen states. After playing at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, the Bergen International Film Festival and winning the Director’s Choice Award at the Illuminate Festival, The invisible extinction Finally arriving on Australian shores for the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival.
“We are very excited to premiere our film here as Australia is one of the leaders in microbiome research.”
Stephen and Sarah’s documentary describes the scientific research examining the widespread depletion of the diversity of the human microbiome. Don’t worry too much if you don’t know what that means, because Stephen and Sarah are here to make you understand.
“We made a general interest film for those who don’t know what a microbiome is.”
In layman’s terms, a microbiome is a collection of good/bad bacteria, viruses, and parasites that live inside any human body. They are known as microbes and protect us from disease, help develop our immune system and control our ability to digest food. However, the modern world has brought unimaginable damage to our microbiome and led to an increase in disease and allergies.
“There are 3 times more people with food allergies in the US compared to two decades ago. Why is that number growing so fast?”
As a parent of two children with severe food allergies, Sarah went looking for the answers.
The documentary reveals possible factors that may contribute to the problem, including the consumption of processed foods, elective cesarean sections and overuse of antibiotics.
Steven admits, “There are still millions who don’t understand the impact of medically unnecessary antibiotics, especially in young children, and all the processed foods we’re exposed to, which put a strain on our microbiome.”
When they met each other for dinner nine years ago, Stephen and Sarah had personal stakes in the subject of infections and allergies.
Sarah’s story began when her second three-year-old child suffered an anaphylactic reaction to a sudden food allergy. A parent’s nightmare for sure, but the response of the medical system left an even bigger mark on her. “When she was in the emergency room receiving treatment, I asked the medical staff why the sudden violent reaction and they had no idea. It was a medical mystery. As a parent of two beloved children, I found this to be a really inadequate answer and began to investigate.”
It was during this time that we financed the first tests that came from the United States government ‘The Human Microbiome Project’ were released to improve understanding of what healthy human bacteria look like.
“In this information, there were early signs that the wrong use of antibiotics, especially in the early life signs, could mess with your bacteria and throw off your immune system. This really resonated with me because my youngest had an ear infection and he took two courses of antibiotics between no food allergies and And then get that strong response.”
For Stephen, it was a journey to understand his microbiology. “When I was making documentaries in Russia and Central Asia, I got some parasitic infections and started losing a lot of weight.” He was treated with antibiotics, which initially made him feel better, until the symptoms returned to where it was assumed he still had the infection and they increased the rounds of “antibiotic bowel cleansing” to combat it.
“I gradually got sick: autoimmune disease, food intolerance, allergies, I lost so much weight. I realized that something had happened to my immune system.” Doing research in libraries in the pre-Google world, he made the decision to stop taking antibiotics. Although the damage had already been done to his microbiome, this was a crucial time in the development of microbiome research, and he became invested in the subject.
For Stephen and Sarah, this film represents the wonderful efforts made to tackle this research by microbiologists, endocrinologists, biologists and physicians. The film mainly follows two internationally acclaimed microbiologists Martin J. Blazer and Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello.
“Marty and Gloria have a very high caliber of work and were really good communicators, willing to share their research and insights into the microbiome,” Sarah shares. “We have found ideal partners in terms of taking this emerging field of research and making it applicable to all of us. Everyone has a human body and I hope people will find useful and interesting information in this film.”
Sarah lived in New York, ran into her swallow Jay Blazer’s book Microbes are missing Intended for general audiences and translated into 20 languages. Sarah is quick to announce her impression of meeting Blazer. “You realize, ‘This guy is ready for his close-up.’ He’s a real natural and able to convey complex ideas in simple language.”
Sarah was lucky to not only have the expertise of one celebrated microbiologist, but two of them. “He put me in touch with his wife, who also turned out to be a microbiologist.”
Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello proved to be an essential piece of the puzzle for the development of the documentary. While Blaser was investigating the problem of damage to the human microbiome, Domínguez-Bello was the one who invented drugs for the problem.
For Sarah, “(Dominguez-Bello) was a huge influence. She founded the microbiota vault that preserves diverse microbes from populations all over the world.” This film is a thank you for their hard work according to Stephen.
“This film represents their mission in life, so the film supports the ongoing work they’ve done. This film travels the world with Marty and Gloria as they do their activism and scientific work and is a dedication to all microbiome researchers who are trying to push the field forward.”
Although the film is full of hard science facts, the two directors ensure that the humanity and relatability of the themes remain. “The scientists in this film are people you get to know and relate to. And there is a greater love for science and the human race. Because why else are they doing this, beating themselves up day after day?”
When Sarah and Steven first started the project in 2014, few people were aware of the research. But now, with promising results coming out, it’s the best time for this movie to release.
According to Sarah and Steven, The invisible extinction is a “wake-up call”.
“We really hope this starts a lot of conversation between patients and doctors about gut health. This film is about the heroic efforts of scientists and researchers. As well as the patients and families participating in these clinical trials. We love to show the importance of this partnership.”
Stephen does admit that now is the time to sell an independent science documentary. “There is certainly a need for more. It is true, especially in the US, that there are not many TV slots for science films and health-related documentaries. Documentary slots are being reduced to guaranteed hits like true crime, celebrity shows and sports.”
However, this is a wonderful time for creative expression and getting your story across. He advises that filmmakers will definitely need to be their own advocates and explore all new avenues of distribution. Something that definitely worked in Sarah and Steven’s favor.
“We do a lot of educational and video on demand and it’s going really well. Our distributors in the US have been able to set up multiple trials with schools, healthcare organizations and universities. Which was critical for us, and the responses were amazing.”
“The film has been translated into so many different languages and is actually available worldwide. And that’s exactly what we wanted,” Stephen admits excitedly.
For Australian audiences, they can check out The invisible extinction B Melbourne Documentary Film Festival And there is a future release on other platforms later this year. “It will be released in Australia sometime later this year on SBS and SBS OnDemand, which means every Australian can get access to it.”
The invisible extinction Screened on July 27 at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival
