from vkpr

Hot Docs is pleased to announce that the 2012-13 season of the monthly screening series Doc Soup will close with the international premiere of LIFE ACCORDING TO SAM (D: Sean Fine; Andrea Nix Fine, USA; 90 min). LIFE ACCORDING TO SAM will screen Wednesday, April 3, at 6:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., and on Thursday, April 4, at 6:45 p.m. at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, 506 Bloor St. West.

LIFE ACCORDING TO SAM is about one family’s courageous fight to save their only son from an extremely rare and fatal disease, progeria. The average age of death from progeria is 13, because there is no treatment and no cure. Dr. Leslie Gordon and Dr. Scott Berns are set on changing this. Their son, Sam Berns, is turning 16 this year. When Sam was diagnosed with progeria at age two, doctors told Leslie and Scott to simply enjoy Sam while they could. They refused to believe this was the answer. They spearheaded a campaign to not only save Sam, but the other children in the world who share his disease. In less than a decade, their extraordinary advances have led to identifying the gene at fault, creating the first drug trials in hopes of treatment, and revealing the amazing discovery that progeria is linked to the entire human aging process.

Single tickets for LIFE ACCORDING TO SAM are $15 and can be purchased in advance online at www.hotdocs.ca or in person at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema box office. In the event advance tickets sell out, a limited number of tickets may be available at the door on the night of the screening.

The 2012-13 season of Doc Soup will close with this screening on April 4. Subscriptions for the 2013-14 season will go on sale March 19 at special Hot Docs Festival pricing, and will be available for purchase online, by phone at 416-637-5150 or in person at the Hot Docs documentary Box Office, newly located at 87 Avenue Road – Hazelton Lanes, Lower Level. For more information, visit www.hotdocs.ca/docsoup.