Logline
THE FOOD CURE tells the stories of six cancer patients who turn their backs on conventional medicine and opt for a controversial nutritional treatment instead. It investigates what pushes cancer patients to seek out alternative medicines when their lives are at risk, and observes how the protagonists fare with their choice during a period of five years, the threshold at which cancer patients are conventionally considered cured.
After researching a story about alternative health clinics in Mexico and being confronted with a conspicuous lack of hard facts, the journalist and director Sarah Mabrouk decided to capture the stories of cancer patients struggling to take their health back into their own hands.
Without knowing where it would lead, Sarah filmed six patients, ranging in age from a 6-month old baby to a 75 year old man, at regular intervals in their home towns in the US, Canada, and Europe and documented the protagonists' experiences from the first days of a strictly nutritional treatment through the final medical scans and tests, and for several years after that. Is it possible that in boosting the immune system through diet, the body can really heal itself of a disease as serious as cancer? Or have these patients simply fallen prey to quack doctors making unproven promises?
The filmmaker questions leading oncologists, researchers, and policy makers, shedding light into the divisive politics surrounding cancer treatment.
Synopsis
THE FOOD CURE documentary tells the stories of six cancer patients who turn their backs on conventional medicine and opt for a controversial nutritional treatment instead. It investigates what pushes cancer patients to seek out alternative medicines when their lives are at risk, and observes how the protagonists fare with their choice during a period of five years.
Without knowing where it would lead, the filmmakers documented the protagonists' experiences from the first days of a strictly nutritional treatment through the final medical scans and tests, and for several years after that. The film sensitively shows the ups and downs, personal struggles, achievements and losses, and the arsenal of organic produce that accompany the protagonists on their journey...with some surprising results.
The principle behind a controversial nutritional treatment discovered by a German doctor in the 1930s is that the body’s own immune system - when fully functional - effectively detects and kills cancer cells. By restoring and strengthening the immune system through a strict diet and radical detoxification measures, the theory is that the cancer patient's immune system can be revitalized, therefore resuming its work of selectively destroying mutated cancer cells without harming any other cells.
This concept, once frowned upon by the medical establishment, is strikingly similar to the ideas behind the cutting-edge cancer research that is producing promising new immunotherapy drugs and oncolytic viral therapies today. Are holistic approaches and high-tech medicine beginning to find some common ground? Could a cure for cancer really be hidden in our immune systems - and in our food?
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Or are alternative practitioners just luring desperate patients away from proper medical treatment with the false promise of hope? Numerous experts on both sides of the medical isle - conventional and alternative - tackle these and many other questions in this exciting new film.
Director
Sarah holds Master's degrees in film and in journalism and has worked as a freelance reporter and camerawoman for a number of print, radio, and TV news organizations including AP, BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, FRANCE24, Eenvandag, and ZDF. Speaking fluent English, German, French, Arabic, and Spanish, Sarah reported from the Middle East for a number of years, covering several conflicts in the region. After researching a story about alternative health clinics in Mexico and being confronted with a conspicuous lack of hard facts, Sarah decided to capture the stories of cancer patients struggling to take their health back into their own hands.