RBF-Funded Film Described as “Outstanding” Portrait of U.S. Epidemic
“Blood Sugar Rising,” a sweeping documentary film that puts a human face on the country’s diabetes epidemic, premiered on PBS on April 15.
The nearly two-hour film, supported by The Russell Berrie Foundation, traces the trajectory of a disease that currently affects 100 million people in the U.S., costing more than $325 billion a year. By 2025, experts predict, half of the U.S. population will have diabetes or pre-diabetes. “Blood Sugar Rising” tells the story of diabetes through intimate portraits of those who live with the disease—weaving in the voices of experts and descriptions of how medical innovations and new discoveries about lifestyle and environmental factors can change the trajectory going forward.
“From our inception, The Russell Berrie Foundation has supported innovations in diabetes treatment and prevention, including through our ongoing investments in the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University Medical Center,” said Angelica Berrie, president of the Foundation. “When we chose to support the making of ‘Blood Sugar Rising,’ we knew it would be an important way to highlight the human and economic dimensions of this increasingly prevalent disease. We could never have expected the film would be released at a time of renewed urgency, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Those with diabetes are at risk for developing the most severe forms of COVID-19. Moreover, they face the additional challenge of controlling their diabetes in an environment where food, medical care and supplies (like insulin) are not always available. This is particularly the case for those living in under-resourced communities—where diabetes rates tend to be highest.
Writing in diaTribe, a patient-focused online publication for those with diabetes, James S. Hirsch described “Blood Sugar Rising” as “outstanding.” It is, he wrote, a “mostly an unsparing account of the physical and emotional toll of diabetes” that, “in tracing the stories of a half dozen principal characters…does emit slivers of hope.”
“While the data are jarring, the real strength of ‘Blood Sugar Rising’ is the compelling personal stories of those individuals who are profiled,” Hirsch continued. “Finding the right people to carry a story—those who are comfortable before a camera and are willing to bare their soul—is the toughest part of such a project. [Writer/director David] Alvarado deserves credit for finding those people and ensuring that they essentially represent the entire map of America: urban, suburban and rural; white, black, Latino and Asian; old and young; type 1 and type 2.”