The director of SICK SCHOOL, Keif Roberts, and Ricki Lake, the producer of WEED THE PEOPLE, are Tom Needham’s exclusive guests this Thursday on WUSB’s THE SOUNDS OF FILM.
SICK SCHOOL, which is currently streaming on Amazon, is a documentary about students at Frank P. Long Elementary School on Long Island who have been getting sick. Also, many people on the staff have been dying. Out of 105, thirty-five have gotten cancer since 1998 and seventeen have passed away.
The school, which sits in the shadow of a massive 270-foot landfill, is the focus of director Keif Roberts’ newest documentary film. With emotional interviews of students, teachers and parents and gripping video footage, the film chronicles their search for answers and the battle to close the school.
Keif Roberts is an award winning filmmaker. He has directed or co-directed several documentaries, including ‘Anxious,’ ‘South Bronx United,’ ‘Under the Bus,’ ‘Peter Pan Bakery,’ ‘Working Horses,’ ‘The Breach,’ and ‘Analog Dreams.’ He has worked with ABC-TV, WPIX, NYRA, The ASPCA, DIY Network and New York Road Runners.
The documentary WEED THE PEOPLE tells the incredible story of children fighting cancer by using medical cannabis. The film makes the case that the right to use medical cannabis is a human rights issue. The film follows several parents who attempt to treat their children’s cancer by using cannabis oil. While medical cannabis has been off limits to doctors for many years, new studies suggest that cannabis may have anti-cancer properties. Because many of these studies are not supported by the medical establishment, parents of sick children are sometimes forced to seek UNDERGROUND treatments to save their children. WEED THE PEOPLE shows what can happen when patients are able to use cannabis oil as a treatment.
Ricki Lake is an accomplished actress, singer, television host, activist and producer. She rose to fame when she starred in John Waters’ ‘Hairspray.’ After the success of this film, she went on to work with Waters on several other movies including ‘Cry-Baby,’ ‘Serial Mom,’ and ‘Cecil B. DeMented.’ Ricki Lake, though, is mostly widely known for her popular television show, ‘The Ricki Lake Show,’ which ran from 1993 to 2004. In 2008, Ricki teamed up with director Abby Epstein to produce the documentary ‘The Business of Being Born.’ After the success of this film, Ricki and Abby went on to make ‘Sweetening the Pill,’ and WEED THE PEOPLE.
THE SOUNDS OF FILM is the nation’s longest running film, music and ideas themed radio show. For the past 30 years, the program has delivered a popular mix of interviews and music to listeners all over Long Island, parts of Connecticut and streaming worldwide live on the internet. Past people interviewed for the show include Jimmy Webb, Dionne Warwick, Ralph Macchio, John Debney, Chuck D, Ernest Dickerson, Lauren Greenfield, Barbara Kopple and Deer Tick.
