The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation continues to support the production of films illuminating the scientific challenges and breakthroughs of our time, including two new documentaries slated to premiere on PBS this month. The first of the two, Oscar nominee Stanley Nelson’s CRITICAL CONDITION: HEALTH IN BLACK AMERICA premiered last night as part of NOVA’s 52nd season and is now available to stream.

Read more about the project and where to stream it below.

CRITICAL CONDITION: HEALTH IN BLACK AMERICA. Dir. Stanley Nelson. Black Americans are nearly twice as likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease than White Americans, and their life expectancy is about five years shorter. Why? In this special feature-length documentary, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson investigates the dramatic health disparities in the US, even as scientists confirm that there are no meaningful genetic differences between races. From the deep history of pseudoscientific beliefs about race that still permeate modern medicine, to the latest research on how experiencing discrimination can directly damage human cells, CRITICAL CONDITION explores the factors behind the health crisis facing Black Americans. Available to stream on the NOVA website.

Previous Sloan-supported documentaries to premiere as part of the NOVA series include David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg’s SECRETS IN YOUR DATA, which premiered in May 2024.

Later this month, viewers can look forward to the premiere of a new Sloan-supported documentary from producer Amanda Pollak and writer/director Gene Tempest, MR. POLAROID. Pollak and Tempest previously collaborated on THE CANCER DETECTIVES: THE TRAILBLAZERS WHO LANDED THE FIRST BLOW AGAINST CANCER, which premiered on PBS in March 2024. The trailer for MR. POLAROID premiered on Deadline earlier this week as an exclusive. Watch it below.

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