Using documentary film as a tool to not only explore complex emotional and moral questions but also to socialise those discussions beyond the rooms in which they happen.
For a week in September 2022, 21 people with personal experience of genetic disease travelled from across the UK to the Wellcome Genome Campus near Cambridge to sit as members of the UK Citizens Jury on Genome Editing. The jury members were selected to broadly reflect the demographic make-up of patients who are eligible to use genomic medicine services and genetic counselling in the NHS. To our knowledge this was the first time a citizens’ jury has been convened on this topic in the UK.
Given the magnitude of the question asked of the jurors and the significance of this being not only the first jury on this topic, but also the fact that every juror has lived experience of genetic disease, it was decided from early on in the design process that the entire jury would be captured on camera to create a documentary film of the process. The end product, titled In Our Lifetime, not only succinctly captures the format and process of the jury process, it also captures the thoughts and feelings of the jurors and experts over the course of the week. Produced as a collaboration between Wellcome Connecting Science, film director Mark Downes and Cambridge production company Lambda Films, the film had a cinema premiere on 20 September 2023 which brought most of the jurors back together along with scientists, policy makers and other thought leaders, and has also been selected to four international film festivals to date.
According to director Mark Downes: “The film seeks to explore these complex themes [around human embryo editing] through storytelling. I want to engage audiences in a conversation about the moral and ethical boundaries of gene editing of embryos with CRISPR. I want to present the science accurately while also delving into the personal and emotional aspects of gene editing. I want viewers to empathize with the families facing these life-altering decisions, to grapple with the moral quandaries that scientists and policymakers confront, and to consider the broader societal implications of this powerful technology. Ultimately, my hope is that my film will contribute to a more informed and thoughtful public discourse on the subject of gene editing. It’s a conversation that will shape the future of humanity, and I believe that through the medium of film, we can both inform and inspire positive change, all while respecting the complexity of the issue at hand.”
Mark Downes is the Director and Chief StoryTeller at Green Eyed Monster Films– sustainable films sustainably made; and our talented production partner is Alex Morris, Creative Director at Cambridge production company Lambda Films.
