Victor’s Last Class

At the age of 52 and suffering from terrible chronic back pain, Victor D’Altorio decided to end his life.

Victor was a proud homosexual, a lover of life, honest, and outrageous. As an acting teacher of the Meisner technique for 20 years, he was committed to living in the moment, and accepting all that that had to offer, however painful it may be. But after fighting bone marrow cancer into remission he found himself with debilitating degenerative disc disorder in his neck and back, and he could not deny the pain that he was in or the dim prospects of relief. His personal commitment to truth and honesty made him despise the idea of suicide in the traditional sense. He simply could not cause that pain to the ones he loved. He decided to tell everyone (via his blog) that he was going to kill himself. This is the starting point for our story.

Over the next five months together we see Vic soaking in the tub in pain, making sex jokes, yelling at the cameraman, crying over his deceased partner, teaching eager new students, wavering on the big choice, and bonding with Brendan, the film maker. During this time, Brendan’s mission changes. He stops being simply the filmmaker asking why, and becomes a close friend trying to change Victor’s mind. Brendan puts together an acting class for Victor to teach to remind him of the life he once loved living, he teams with other students to produce the play that Victor had written, he does all he can to convince his new friend and mentor to stick around.

The God Cells: A Fetal Stem Cell Journey

Stem Cell research and therapy have been growing at a rapid rate over the past fifteen years. Scientific advances coupled with consumer demand have proven that stem cell therapy is the wave of the future, and is poised to change the face of medicine.

The only hurdles have been religious and regulatory roadblocks slowing down the approval process for fetal stem cell therapy, arguably the most contested and controversial form of stem cell therapy to date, due to them being harvested from abortions.

The God Cells takes the audience on a journey with those who seek the life changing fetal stem cell therapy abroad, while avoiding the seemingly insurmountable roadblocks at home.

“The demand is real, patients with current unmet medical needs are desperate and require this therapy, but the current regulatory and industry hurdles are making it near impossible for us to do our job and get these important stem cell therapies to those people in need. Because of this, many scientific organizations are taking their technology abroad to appease patient demand, because they feel the current regulatory hurdles are insurmountable.”

Randal Mills, PhD, President and CEO for California Institute For Regenerative Medicine