Today's Message
Posted: Thursday, April 22, 2021'Fight for Good' - Burchfield Penney Virtual Premiere: Today
The Community Health Center of Buffalo Inc. (CHCB), in collaboration with the Buffalo Documentary Project (BDP) and the Burchfield Penney Art Center, will present the virtual premiere of Fight for Good, a 20-minute film documenting the center’s efforts to provide continuous care to underserved patients of color in the face of inequity and systemic racism during the COVID-19 pandemic, today, April 22, at 7:00 p.m. The screening and subsequent panel discussion will be livestreamed on the BDP website and on the Burchfield Penney Facebook page.
Fight for Good explores the impact of CHCB physicians, the leadership role of women of color, and the challenges presented by health-care disparities. The film captures candid, firsthand experiences, personal and organizational challenges in providing treatment, difficulties faced by families, and the impact of racism in the broader health-care system.
“In Fight for Good we give our voice to our common humanity,” said LaVonne Ansari, chief executive officer of CHCB. “This includes our innermost fears of personal vulnerability and loss, our frustrations, and hopes for a health-care system that is on one hand truly miraculous, and on the other, afflicted.”
Panelists
LaVonne Ansari, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, CHCB
Kenyani Davis, M.D., M.P.H., Chief Medical Officer, CHCB
Shilpa Kapoor, D.D.S., M.S., B.D.S., Dental Director, CHCB
Mani Mehrvarz, Founding Director, BDP
Maryam Muliaee, Art Director, BDP
Naila Ansari, Assistant Professor of Theater and Africana Studies Buffalo State College, BDP film curator and interviewer
In the summer of 2020, the BDP approached the health center to explore sharing their stories about the virus plaguing the world, severely threatening lives in the communities it serves. Founded by director Mani Mehrvarz in 2016, BDP tells the untold stories of Buffalo and Western New York through documentary filmmaking. Maryam Muliaee, a media artist, scholar, and educator, serves as the art director, researcher, and animator. Naila Ansari, Buffalo State assistant professor of theater and Africana studies, serves as the documentary’s curator and interviewer.
