- Welcome to POV.
I'm Pete Schwaba, host of PBS Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
Tonight, we will meet
one of America's most influential activists
in Ady Barkan,
who has become a force in the healthcare justice arena
in the film Not Going Quietly.
Ady Barkan, is a father to two young children,
a husband, and Yale-educated lawyer
who was diagnosed with ALS,
a debilitating disease for which there is no cure.
Not Going Quietly follows Ady's journey
who through his "Be A Hero" political movement
lobbies Congress to enact Medicare for all.
How bad does Ady feel our healthcare system has gotten?
He was recently quoted as saying
"The knowledge I was dying was terrible
but dealing with my insurance company was even worse."
Let that sink in.
Not Going Quietly is directed by
award-winning filmmaker Nicholas Bruckman.
I've always been fascinated by filmmakers who have success
both with documentaries and in scripted world.
Bruckman produced a narrative film
during a Covid lockdown in Kashmir
called Valley of Saints
that won the audience award at Sundance.
Not Going Quietly also has a trio of Hollywood power players
in the executive producer chairs
including Mark and Jay Duplass
and Wisconsin native and former West Wing Star Bradley Whitford.
The entire filmmaking team was inspired to tell the story
of this tenacious and resilient leading man
who is willing to spend his remaining days
fighting for all Americans to have affordable healthcare.
Nicholas Bruckman said in a recent interview,
"There is an unimaginable irony
"in that ALS has literally taken away Barkan's voice
but given him a megaphone."
It's no wonder that Time Magazine
named him as one of the 100 most influential people
in the world for 2020.
Not Going Quietly starts now on PBS Wisconsin,
your home for independent film.