TALES FROM THE ORGAN TRADE (2013)
Canada. Direction: Ric Esther Bienstock. Production: Ric Esther Bienstock, Felix Golubev, Simcha Jacobovici / Associated Producers, HBO Documentary Films, Shaw Media, Canal D. Screenplay: Ric Esther Bienstock. Photography: Frank Vilaca, Michael Ellis, Kenneth Ng. Music: John Welsman. Edition: Steve Weslak. Narration: David Cronenberg. Running time: 82 min
LANGUAGE: English, Russian, Hebrew, Tagalog, Turkish / SUBTITLES: Spanish
A gritty and unflinching descent into the shadowy world of black-market organ trafficking: the street-level brokers, the rogue surgeons, the impoverished men and women who are willing to sacrifice a slice of their own bodies for a quick payday, and the desperate patients who face the agonizing choice of obeying the law or saving their lives.
Fifty years ago it was only in sci-fi tales that a sick person could have their lives saved using part of another person's body. Today it is a daily miracle. Most of the organs transplanted come from dead people. But demand is greater than supply. That's why thousands of body parts are bought and sold all over the world in a black market that generates 0 million a year.
