Breakthrough, the rare science documentary that feels like a miracle

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  The poster for Breakthrough, a 2019 SXSW documentary about scientific hero/occasional Willie Nelson harmonica player Dr. Jim Allison. [credit: Nathan Mattise ]

AUSTIN, Texas-"It's astonishing how few documentaries there are about gifted scientists," filmmaker Bill Haney tells Ars about Breakthrough, his new documentary premiering over the weekend at South by Southwest. "Part of it is, most filmmakers don't know much about science, they're thinking about film. But science can be complex, and audiences can be overwhelmed by scientific subjects. If you're not careful, you can make NOVA, which hits your head not your heart."

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View more storiesLuckily for audiences, Breakthrough has both. And that's because (luckily for Haney) recent Nobel-winning scientist Dr. James Allison agreed to be the film's focal point. For those familiar with Allison's groundbreaking work centered on empowering the immune system to battle cancer, the documentary spends ample amounts of time in the lab detailing everything from how the scientist first became fascinated by T cells to his years of work leading up to the potentially game-changing cancer drug, Ipi. (No less than Woody Harrelson narrates each of Allison's scientific steps along the way.)

And while it may not pack in the same amount of information as reading an Allison paper directly, Breakthrough remains loyal to its academic source material in a way that's clear enough for any viewer to follow. The film quite frankly feels a little bit like a science communications miracle in this regard.

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