Cinematic Empathy: The Art of Socially Conscious Film

The UCSF Memory and Aging Center is excited to announce filmmaker and Atlantic Fellow Zach Bandler as the inaugural recipient of the Miller Artist in Residence Program. This prestigious residency honors Harriet Bernice Sanders Miller, MFA—an artist fascinated with botany, cell biology, and medical illustration—and her husband Milton Miller, MD, professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences.

The aim of the residency is to foster creative exchange between artists and UCSF faculty, staff, and the larger scientific community through public lectures and collaborative programming.

Bandler is a director and screenwriter based in Los Angeles focused on creating informed and empathetic narratives through his work in film and television. After his fellowship with the Global Brain Health Institute in 2022 at Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin in Ireland, he has turned his camera towards the subject of dementia in an attempt to raise awareness and reduce stigma.

Please join us for an evening program, “Cinematic Empathy: The Art of Socially Conscious Film,” on Monday, Oct. 6. Together we will explore Zach's filmmaking practice within the context of brain health, examining the ethical, socio-emotional, and neurological considerations when producing and distributing film. 

This event is free and open to the public. No advance registration is required. A reception will immediately follow the program.

Film Screening

Koko Suzanne – a short film by Zach Bandler, shot in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in collaboration with Dr. Emmanuel Epenge, one of the Congo’s few neurologists

Exclusive Preview

Altered – Bandler's current project in development

Panel Discussion

Featuring Bruce Miller, Kate Rankin, and Winston Chiong alongside filmmaker Zach Bandler producers Victor Mazzone and Lou Wang-Holborn, and cinematographer Jon Keng