Impossible doesn’t seem to be in acclaimed biochemist Pat Brown’s vocabulary. But that word is central to the revolutionary Impossible Foods brand he pioneered. Looking behind the scenes in the documentary “Wild Hope: Mission Impossible” at this year’s Coronado Island Film Festival (CIFF), attendees glimpsed insights into this pioneering scientist’s quest to create the best meaty vegan burger and make the world a better place.

“I think human emotion is one the greatest tools we have access to as filmmakers and storytellers to connect our audiences to the natural world, be it through a person or an animal.”

For the past 7 years, I have been working on a feature documentary called Turtle Walker. This is the story of Indian sea turtle conservationist Satish Bhaskar, who walked two-thirds of the country’s coastlines in the late 1970s, to discover and protect endangered sea turtles and their habitats. It is a story of deep wonder for the marine environment, and how one person’s singlehanded efforts sparked a movement and legacy for sea turtle conservation in the country. 

Last month, NBC premiered its new medical drama, Brilliant Minds, starring Zachary Quinto as Dr. Oliver Wolf. The premise is intriguing: a motorcycle-riding neurologist, who’s as unorthodox as he is skilled, treats a wide array of patients with neurological conditions most people can’t even fathom. Between cases, we glimpse into Wolf’s troubled past and his own neurodivergence to paint a complete picture of a man who’s revolutionizing his field.

The Oliver Sacks that most of the world knew — the one I fell in love with after we met in 2008, when he was 75 — was the beloved neurologist and the author of many best-selling books, admired worldwide. A forthcoming volume of Oliver’s letters, nearly 350 of them, spanning 55 years, from age 27 to 82, provides a more complicated picture of the man often referred to in his later years as “the poet laureate of medicine.” 

When Sonia Vallabh learned she has the genetic mutation for prion disease, she and her husband dropped everything to change careers. Today, they lead a Harvard/MIT lab searching for a cure.

Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to Every Little Thing, Sally Aitken’s documentary about a hummingbird rehabilitator that premiered in Sundance and has gone on to play multiple festivals including CPH:DOX.