Director Ben Proudfoot’s Short Documentary ‘Doc Albany,’ Addressing Access in Today’s US Healthcare System, To Make World Premiere at Tribeca Festival
The Film is the Third Installment in Publicis Sapient’s Impact Films Series, Aiming to Underscore How Technology Positively Impacts Everyday Lives
Publicis Sapient, a digital business transformation company announced the launch of the short documentary ‘Doc Albany,’ which explores the healthcare challenges faced by communities with limited access to healthcare resources, including rural Americans. Directed by two-time Academy Award®-winning director Ben Proudfoot (The Queen of Basketball and The Last Repair Shop) and his company, Breakwater Studios, the film is set to make its world premiere at this year’s Tribeca Festival.
Over 70 million people in underserved communities in the U.S. lack access to regular medical care. ‘Doc Albany’ provides an intimate look at the significant barriers Americans face in accessing essential healthcare services and the importance of structural changes required to ensure healthcare access for all, regardless of geography. The film, set in rural Georgia, tells its story through the perspective of Dr. Jim Hotz, who founded Albany Area Primary Health Care (AAPHC), a community health center with 21 clinical sites serving over 36,000 rural patients in Southwest Georgia, and Dr. Sheena Favors, an OB-GYN at the health center. Both Dr. Hotz, who was the inspiration for the 1991 Michael J. Fox film ‘Doc Hollywood,’ and Dr. Favors have witnessed the profound implications of healthcare disparities found within marginalized populations. They have also experienced the benefits of a digital system developed by Publicis Sapient for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which helps place healthcare professionals in underserved areas across the country that face shortages.
“As a purpose-driven organization with a long history of transforming established businesses, we believe technology can have a positive and powerful impact on people’s lives,” said Nigel Vaz, CEO of Publicis Sapient. “Healthcare affects all of us. ‘Doc Albany’ showcases how our work with HRSA is inspiring change within the system and helping offer healthcare access for all.”
‘Doc Albany’ is the third film in a three-part short film series, known as Impact Films, led by Publicis Sapient’s Global Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Teresa Barreira. Through gripping storytelling and a differentiated non-branding approach to documentaries, Impact Films brings to life the incredible power of digital business transformation and the profound impact it can have on major societal issues, through stories told by a person whose life has been positively impacted by technology. ‘Doc Albany’ follows the releases of short films ‘Forgiving Johnny’ and ‘Never Done.’
“‘Doc Albany’ offers a candid look at the challenges many Americans face in accessing quality healthcare,” said Teresa Barreira, Global Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Publicis Sapient. “With this short film, we’re striving to put a human face on digital business transformation because behind every system and screen is a real person, with real needs. Thanks to our collaboration with HRSA, we’re helping drive meaningful change through innovative and impactful digital systems. We hope this film inspires healthcare professionals and gives hope to those navigating today’s healthcare landscape.”
“When 77% of rural counties in the United States are medical deserts, doctors like Dr. Jim Hotz and Dr. Sheena Favors, who save and transform lives on a daily basis in Albany, Georgia, are real life heroes worth celebrating,” said two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker and entrepreneur Ben Proudfoot. “I am thrilled that their story will reach audiences in Manhattan, which has 11 hospitals in 23 square miles, at the 2025 Tribeca Festival. As Dr. Favors asserts in the film, “You shouldn’t have to live in New York City to be healthy!”
Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) loan repayment and scholarship programs help bring doctors and nurses into high-need communities by repaying their student loans in exchange for their service. However, outdated systems and manual processes once made it difficult to scale, track impact, and respond quickly to public health emergencies. Over several years, Publicis Sapient has helped HRSA transform digitally by bring efficiencies and scale to their operations and modernizing them to better align with their mission of improving health in high-need areas. As part of its work, Publicis Sapient replaced a 35-year-old mainframe system, leading to triple processing capacity and saving millions, and it implemented a data management program to gain critical insights for better strategic investments and data-driven policies.
‘Doc Albany’ will make its world premiere at Tribeca Festival on Sunday, June 8, 2:30pm at Shorts Theater at Spring Studios in New York.
For more information on Publicis Sapient’s Impact Films, please visit https://www.publicissapient.com/impact
ABOUT IMPACT FILMS
Publicis Sapient’s Impact Films is a three-part short film series that underscores the power of digital business transformation through real stories about the positive impact digital can have on major societal issues. These stories are told from the perspective of a person who experiences positive change due to digital business transformation. The Impact Films initiative is brought to life in partnership with Academy-Award® winning director Ben Proudfoot and his company Breakwater Studios.
ABOUT PUBLICIS SAPIENT
Publicis Sapient is a digital business transformation company. We partner with global organizations to help them create and sustain competitive advantage in a world that is increasingly digital. We operate through our expert SPEED — Strategy, Product, Experience, Engineering and Data & AI — capabilities which, combined with our culture of curiosity and deep industry knowledge, enable us to deliver meaningful impact to our clients’ businesses through reimagining the products and experiences their customers truly value. Our agile, data-driven approach equips our clients’ businesses for change, making digital the core of how they think and what they do. Publicis Sapient is the digital business transformation hub of Publicis Groupe with 20,000 people across 72 offices worldwide. For more information, visit publicissapient.com.
ABOUT BREAKWATER STUDIOS
Breakwater Studios is an Academy Award®-winning, vertically integrated entertainment company specializing in humanist short-form documentaries and brand partnerships. Founded in 2012 by filmmaker and entrepreneur Ben Proudfoot, the craft-first company is rooted in the principle of housing all creative departments on the same physical campus, which is currently spread between three locations in the historic Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, including Walt Disney’s original studio. Since 2014, Breakwater Studios has partnered directly with sophisticated brands to conceive and create short documentary series as a more effective and affordable alternative to traditional interruptive advertising. With a dedicated full-time staff, and a growing family of in-residence artists, Breakwater has emerged as a leader in the traditionally unprofitable short documentary space. With noteworthy and award-winning collaborations, including with The New York Times, Charles Schwab, UNICEF, L’Oréal Paris and LinkedIn and different original projects selected by HotDocs, Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, and Telluride, Breakwater is an industry leader in short documentary.
About The Author
