Distilling the celebrated 40-year history of the Task Force For Global Health – a groundbreaking global organisation – into a short form documentary is no small feat. Doing so involves an assessment of a large archival body of films and the development of a narrative arc that shines a light on the subject’s history, highlights, and achievements.

In 1984 Dr. Bill Foege, Mr. Bill Watson and Ms. Carol Walters (all former colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control) gathered around Watson’s kitchen table to formulate a plan that would change the lives of millions of children by eliminating diseases such as polio, measles and diphtheria. The result was The Task Force For Child Survival, which grew to become the Task Force For Global Health. As the organisation has grown to address the health needs of populations around the world, it has achieved incredible success through the rollout of programmes that have become the gold standard for disease intervention worldwide.

Through a carefully curated selection of historical footage and interviews with the Task Force’s founders, our film distills this impressive 40-year legacy into 7 minutes. The result is a film that details how the organisation has grown to become a leader in global health that has solved some of the toughest health challenges we face, on a scale never accomplished before.

This film was the key presentation at the Task Force For Global Health’s 40th anniversary event, held at their headquarters in Decatur, Georgia, USA.

To see more on our approach to short form documentary films, read this article on how we develop a narrative arc that enables us to incorporate a great deal of detail and history into a short film.