News and Opinion

Inspiring Global Health Films

This is a crowd-sourced list of over 100 inspiring, must-watch movies focused on global health topics

Published in Microbiology

Jun 20, 2020

Madhukar Pai

Chair, Department of Global and Public Health, McGill University

Liked by Onaoluwa Abimbola and 9 others

As I get ready to teach my global health course online this year, I wanted to compile a list of great movies focused on global health topics.

I posed the question on Twitter and received a large number of suggestions. Here is the compilation of over 100 films (as of Sept 2024) recommended by a variety of people. I have provided a hyperlink to a website with more details on each movie. The list is alphabetically organized using the movie title.

I am grateful to all those who contributed to this list. I will aim to keep it updated, as I am doing with a similar list of global health books.

Happy viewing!

Title of the film	Directors or producers		Link
A doctor’s dream: A pill for sleeping sickness	DNDi		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk31iucWYdE
A Quiet Inquisition	Alessandra Zeka and Holen Sabrina Kahn		https://www.aquietinquisition.com/
And The Band Played On	Roger Spottiswoode		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106273/
Antibiotic resistance	Nitai Steinberg		https://youtu.be/yHs0GyLNSLg
Awakenings	Penny Marshall		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099077/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
Be Your Sisters' Keeper	Maisha Fiti		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDH3gP0MAeA&feature=emb_logo
Bending The Arc	Kief Davidson and Pedro Kos		https://bendingthearcfilm.com/ (now on Netflix)
Birth of a Family	Hans Olson		https://www.nfb.ca/film/birth_of_a_family/
Birth In Nepal	Subina Shrestha		https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2010/05/20105372154435803.html
Birth Wars	Janet Jarman		https://birthwarsfilm.com/
Breathtaking	Craig Viveiros, Rachel Clarke (written by)		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28509857/
Cefalea	Kim Hyejin		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ribg1YLQqGg
C'era una volta la città dei matti (There was once the city of the mad)	Marco Turco		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1600395/
Chernobyl (2019)	Craig Mazin		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7366338/
Contagion	Steven Soderbergh		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/
Dallas Buyers Club	Jean-Marc Vallee		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790636/
Dark Waters	Todd Haynes		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9071322/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Dirty Pretty Things	Stephen Frears		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301199/
Doctors of War	Nathaniel Lippiett		https://vimeo.com/482241529
El Susto!	Karen Akins		https://elsustomovie.com/
Erin Brockovich	Steven Soderbergh		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195685/
Escape Fire	Susan Froemke, Matthew Heineman		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2093109/
Ek Doctor Ki Maut	Tapan Sinha		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0345177/
Euphoric	Nirmala Choudhary and Roopali Ramesh Kumar		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNPdVdFlEDo
Faces	Joseph Adesunloye		https://m.imdb.com/title/tt6944264/
Fire In The Blood	Dylan Mohan Gray		https://fireintheblood.com/
For Every Girl, a Forest	Nacho Corbella		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQmoqAEAxCU
For Sama	Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts		https://www.forsamafilm.com/
From Durban To Tomorrow	Dylan Mohan Gray		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11709738/
Ganashatru	Satyajit Ray	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganashatru
God Loves Uganda	Roger Ross Williams		https://www.godlovesuganda.com/
Hear Our Voices - Mental Health in a Developing World	Programme for Improving Mental Healthcare (PRIME)		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbpncXY1WtA&feature=emb_logo
Heroines of Health	Lisa Russell		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpVzvY636TA&feature=youtu.be
Hospital	Kesang Tseten Lama		https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/738a7b45-015e-4ebe-8074-c1da0878db17/hospital/docs-for-sale
How I Live	Meghan Shea and Mike Rogers		https://www.howilivewithcancer.com/
How to Survive A Pandemic	David France		https://www.hbo.com/movies/how-to-survive-a-pandemic
How To Survive A Plague	David France		https://surviveaplague.com/
Hunger Ward	Skye Fitzgerald		https://www.hungerward.org/
I Am Belmaya	Sue Carpenter		https://belmaya.com/
Inside Story	Rolie Nikiwe		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2231299/
In Our Hands	Millie Harvey		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jKVTXXSAhY#action=share
Io Capitano	Matteo Garrone		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14225838/
Jackson	Maise Crow		http://www.jacksonthefilm.com/
Knock on my door	The Specialty Hospital in Jordaan and produced by Fawzi Al Hammouri, Abdullah Haymour and Rania Al Shadeed.		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2c02hiAsvY&feature=emb_logo
Life and Debt	Stephanie Black		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0284262/
Life In A Day	Kevin Macdonald		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaFVr_cJJIY&feature=youtu.be&has_verified=1
Limbo	Saw Eh Doh Poe, Nann Win May Aye and Nwaye Zar Che Soe		https://youtu.be/o88NgiKgFy4
Living without limits	BBC StoryWorks for the Helmsley Charitable Trust.		https://youtu.be/ew3nApbKtXc
Living in Emergency	Mark Hopkins		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1294182/
Lovesick	Ann S. Kim & Priya Giri Desai		https://lovesickthefilm.com/
Man Facing Southeast	Eliseo Subiela		https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Facing_Southeast
Medicine Man	John McTiernan		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104839/
Manus	Angus McDonald		http://www.angusmcdonald.com.au/film
Merchants Of Doubt	Robert Kenner		https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchants_of_Doubt_(film)
Minutes To Die	James Reid		http://minutestodie.com/
Miss Evers' Boys	Josesph Sargent		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119679/
Nasrin	Jeff Kaufman		https://www.nasrinfilm.com/
Nothing Without Us: The Women Who Will End AIDS	Harriet Hirshorn		http://womanatthereel.com/
Outbreak	Wolfgang Petersen		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114069/
Out of Breath	Hein Seok		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8207890/
Parasite	Bong Joon Ho		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6751668/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Period. End of Sentence.	Rayka Zehtabchi		https://thepadproject.org/period-end-of-sentence/
Phir Milenge	Revathi		https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phir_Milenge
Phosphoros	Susana Beatriz Serrano		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3_o6u670Qo
Pili	Sophie Harman & Leanne Welham		https://www.studiosohodistribution.com/movie/pili?country=united-kingdom
Pills Profits Protest	Shanti Avirgan		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0445042/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Poverty, Inc.	Michael Matheson Miller		https://www.povertyinc.org/
Priya's Mask	Ram Devineni & Shubhra Prakash		https://www.priyashakti.com/priyas-mask
Putuparri and the Rainmakers	Nicole Ma & John Moore		https://vimeo.com/ondemand/putuparri
Rabbit- Proof Fence	Phillip Noyce		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0252444/
Resistance	Michael Graziano		https://vimeo.com/113626890
RX for Survival: A Global Health Challenge	Gail Willumsen		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472972/
!Salud!	Connie Field		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0985667/
Saving Face	Daniel Junge & Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2140371/
Sema	Macherie Ekwa Bahango		https://www.mukwegefoundation.org/semafilm/
Ship of Theseus	Anand Gandhi		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1773764/
Sicko	Michael Moore		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386032/
Something Like a War	Deepa Dhanraj		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0307481/
Smile Pinki	Megan Mylan		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1360065/
State of Mind	Hopewell Chin'ono		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XKAkTmPZSs&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop
Stressed: a pandemic of fear	Daniel Wheeler		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-71ApclW5k
Survivors	Arthur Pratt		https://www.survivorsfilm.com/
That Sugar Film	Damon Gameau		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3892434/
The Cost of Cobalt	Fiona Lloyd-Davies and Robert Flummerfelt		https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/cost-cobalt
The Divide	Katherine Round		https://thedividedocumentary.com/
The Devil We know	Stephanie Soechtig		https://thedevilweknow.com/
The Friendship Bench	Reabetswe Moeti-Vogt & Graham Leader		https://www.sealionfilms.com/thefriendshipbench
The Insider	Michael Mann		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140352/
The Journey of Hope	Jorik Dozy and Sean Lin		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPX-nKuKGDA
The Lucky Specials	Rea Rangaka		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6223432/
The New Barbarianism	Stephen Morrison		https://www.csis.org/features/new-barbarianism
The People Vs. Agent Orange	Alan Adelson & Kate Taverna		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13185402/
The Physician	Philipp Stölzl		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2101473/
The Lazarus Effect	David Gelb		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2918436/
The Constant Gardener	Fernando Meirelles		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387131/
The Final Inch	Irene Taylor		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1360061/
The Unforgotten	Ewan Affleck		https://theunforgotten.cma.ca/film
There is Something in the Water	Ian Daniel, Elliot Page, Ingrid Waldron		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10864040/
TISHALA: Nothing to Lose	Emmanuel Yegon		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBtXD2n5lak&feature=youtu.be
Toilet. A Love Story	Shree Narayan Singh		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5785170/
The Life Equation	Rob Tinworth		http://lifeequationinteractive.com/tle-film/
The Necessities of Life (Ce qu'il faut pour vivre)	Benoit Pilon		https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Necessities_of_Life
Tigers	Danis Tanovic		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3004774/
The Price of Free	Derek Doneen		https://priceoffree.com/
The Swimmers	Sally El Hosaini		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8745676/
Township Yogi	Peter Matthews		https://www.townshipyogi.org/
United in Anger	Jim Hubbard		https://www.unitedinanger.com/
Unmasked: We All Breathe	Janet Tobias		https://vimeo.com/315337117
Virus (2019)	Aashiq Abu		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8941440/
War & Grace	Sonia Lowman		https://youtu.be/di2pYCcxT0U
We Were Here	David Weissman		https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Were_Here_(film)
Welcome To Sodom	Florian Weigensamer & Christian Krönes		http://www.welcome-to-sodom.com/
What Doesn't Kill Me	Rachel Meyrick		https://www.whatdoesntkillme.com/
What The Health	Kip Andersen & Keegan Kuhn		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5541848/
WOMENstruate	Lauren Anders Brown		https://vimeo.com/339680104
Yellow Card	John Riber		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275802/
Yesterday	Darrell Roodt		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419279/
93 Days	Steve Gukas		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5305246/
130 BPM (Beats Per Minute)	Robin Campillo		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6135348/

Madhukar Pai (He/Him)

Chair, Department of Global and Public Health, McGill University

I am a Professor and a Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology & Global Health at McGill University, Montreal. I serve as the Associate Director of the McGill International TB Centre. URL: http://www.paitbgroup.org/

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Onaoluwa Abimbola

over 4 years ago

Wow! I'm so behind with movies. Only ever heard of two before - Contagion and 93 days (Stella Adadevoh of Nigeria'a Ebola story I think) , but not watched any of them.