Dr Bing: Giving Free Reign to Head and Heart

Tomorrow we’ll be at the Sundance Film Festival at the world premiere of Para Fuera, An Intimate Portrait of Dr. Richard Bing.  As some of you may recall we talked about Dr. Bing last October on the occasion of his 100th birthday.  I still love that story about how we met (and it shows the power of a good fax these days in our overcrowded inboxes!) and I’ve told it and the lessons I’ve taken away from our meetings to dozens of people at dinners and parties. 

Now you all get to meet him

When I wrote the first blog post a few months ago I said we were going to make a movie about him so more people could meet the man behind the name (and behind pediatric cardiology, PET scans, 200 pieces of music, a few hundred medical journals – I could go on).   The inimitable Sean worked with our buddies at CAA to find a director who could tell Dr. Bing’s story – but more important to me was to find someone who could show the twinkle of his persona in his 100-year old eyes.  His accomplishments seem less important than what they’ve taught him as a person. It’s almost as though the act of accomplishing was more valuable than the outcome. 

Sundance Award alum Nick Jasenovec completed the film in December.  I saw the rough cut and loved it but little did we know how far this film would go.  We didn’t know the film would be selected as one of 60 Sundance Official Selections out of a field of several thousand submissions in the category.  We certainly didn’t know that the director would get to premiere it with the Hollywood glitterati down here in Park City, UT on Monday night.  I like to think the film was accepted because it shows the power of a story that stresses unbounded potential over deterministic cynicism.  It demonstrates in flesh and blood the age-old axiom that we can be anything we want if we just work hard enough.  Or maybe it was selected just because he is so wicked cool.

Whatever the reason, we hope you enjoy the film.  It’s only 10 minutes long and I’m sure your bosses won’t mind you checking it out at the office if for no other reason than it will inspire you to work harder, be better, and let the small stuff pass on your way to 100.

Enjoy!

Stefan Weitz (from Park City, where it is cold and I didn’t bring the right clothes)

 

Other posts of interest:

Lights, Camera, Sundance

Wishing Dr. Richard Bing a Happy 100th Birthday