Preeminent documentary filmmaker Ken Burns' latest series,
Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, will be released on Blu-ray this spring by PBS Distribution, a few short weeks after its broadcast premiere. The Blu-ray edition of the 3-part, 6-hour "biography" of cancer streets on April 28th.
This in-depth examination of the origins, history and future of cancer – from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic "War on Cancer" in the last century – comes at a moment of inflection in the history of the disease, when scientific breakthroughs have put a cure within reach. The series matches the epic scale of the disease, reshaping the way the public sees cancer and stripping away some of the fear and misunderstanding that has long surrounded it. The story of cancer is a story of scientific hubris, paternalism, and misperception, but it is also a story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance.
Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies investigates cancer with a cellular biologist's precision, a historian's perspective and a biographer's passion. The series artfully weaves three different films in one: a riveting historical documentary; an engrossing and intimate vérité film; and a scientific and investigative report.
PBS Distribution has yet to detail tech specs or special features. Episodes include:
- Past: The search for a "cure" for cancer is the greatest epic in the history of science. It spans centuries and continents, and like all epics is chock full of heroes, villains, and sudden vertiginous twists. It is a scientific story, but also a deeply human one – of doctors, researchers, and patients, who through courage and occasional hubris, pushed the boundaries of knowledge.
- Present: More than one writer has described the experience of having cancer as a journey into a new land in which they must leave behind all that is familiar. Often, this new landscape is harsh and painful, but it need not be. Cancer patients often find deeper dimensions in their relationships, newfound meaning in their lives, spiritual connections and reserves of strength they never knew they had.
- Future: Cancer is, at bottom, a disease of mutated genes. We have long known that cancer is caused by the unrestrained division of cells – a kind of malevolent perfection of our own biological drives. But what is new in the last two decades is a much more complete understanding of how and why that cellular proliferation takes place, and how it might be stopped.