Three decades ago, a group of activists and doctors set out to bring healthcare to everyone in the world. This is the story of their ongoing crusade and its effect on millions of people.

Thirty years ago, a group of improbable heroes came together on a mission that was both medical and moral - and, by everyone’s estimation other than their own, highly unlikely to succeed. Their goal was simple but daring: to make high-quality healthcare available to everyone, even in the world’s poorest countries. Fighting entrenched diseases, political and bureaucratic machinery, and the charity-industrial complex itself, these crusaders forced the international community to embrace the idea that healthcare must be a basic human right in every society, and went ahead to provide it. In doing so, they have changed the lives of millions of people across the globe.

Told through interviews, rare archival material and on-the-ground contemporary footage featuring Dr. Paul Farmer (legendary founder of Partners In Health), Dr. Jim Yong Kim (the maverick president of the World Bank), and Dr. Agnes Binagwaho (controversial Health Minister of Rwanda), the film is an emotionally charged, dramatic and inspiring journey with these brilliant and headstrong heroes.

BENDING THE ARC is the first film in the 2017-18 Doc Soup Series co-presented by Hot Docs.