This Body: confronting medical mistrust in Black America

Zac Manuel discusses his documentary about a young Covid vaccine trial participant intent on challenging vaccine hesitancy in her community

Our recent release on the Guardian Documentary strand is This Body, a film about a young woman called Sydney Hall who has decided to go against the skeptics and participate in a Covid vaccine trial. A veterinary student, her trust in science and the medical industry is not one shared with most of her community, especially in the echoes of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment alongside contemporary medical inequalities that continue towards Black America to this day.

The director, Zac Manuel, is a New Orleans-based film-maker who hopes that telling stories about the Black southern experience and Black legacy through his work will encourage change in society. We asked him a few questions about his latest film.