There is always a Buffalo angle, documentary edition:
The enlightening current Netflix documentary series “You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment” features Buffalo twins John and Jevon Whittington.
They are one of four sets of twins in the four-episode experiment in which one twin eats a healthy vegan diet and the other twin eats an omnivore diet containing meat to test how it impacts their health.
Their mother, Deborah Hardy Whittington, said the twins were born and raised in Buffalo. They are graduates of the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts and D’Youville University.
They are registered nurses at two of the local hospitals, and they were part of Change Makers 30 under 30 last year. They also sing.
Their father, John Whittington Jr., a bodybuilder, also appears in the series that was filmed in 2022. There also is a brief shot of their grandmother and a brief clip of ceremonies at D’Youville.
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The Whittington twins are in the best shape of the four sets of twins, with one leader of the experiment joking they are the twins least concerned about the testing results of how diet and exercise impacted their bodies.
The series could lead viewers to consider changing their eating habits.
After watching the shockingly unhealthy conditions in which cattle, chickens and salmon are raised and the impact on the environment, you may never look at a hamburger, a piece of chicken or a piece of fish in the same way.
WNED-TV is carrying a recent documentary, “Keeper of the Flame,” at 5 p.m. Saturday about the life of Jack Healey, a famous human rights activist who has Buffalo ties.
He is the former director of Amnesty International. He ran benefit concerts with U2 and Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s and worked with Ani DiFranco.
Healey is a cousin of Buffalo News sportswriter Mark Gaughan. In addition, Western New Yorkers Don Ingalls and George Fanelli were involved in Healey’s projects.
Ingalls was an intern for Healey when he headed the American Freedom From Hunger Foundation in 1971. Fanelli was a Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho, South Africa, when Healey was the country director.
Here is a short summary provided by WNED: “’Keeper of the Flame’ follows the life and work of human rights activist Jack Healey. Working for a decade as the director of Amnesty International USA, Healey played a major role in bringing human rights awareness to a televised national and international audience through the fusing of popular music and activism, collaborating with the likes of Peter Gabriel, Sting and Wynton Marsalis. Tracking Healey’s activism back to the Civil Rights Movement, the film lays the groundwork for his lifelong commitment to advocating for human rights. Learning from and working with mentors Dick Gregory, Fannie Lou Hamer, Father James Groppi and John Lewis, Healey’s activist spirit has continued and strengthened through the decades.”
A 2022 film by Western New York native Sarah Schwab about the opioid crisis, “Life After You,” airs at 9 p.m. Jan. 26 on WNED.
Schwab, who grew up in Eden and went to SUNY Fredonia, is the co-writer, director and producer.
According to a release, “Life After You” “is centered around a suburban family’s struggle with the death of their 19-year-old son, following an overdose of heroin that was laced with fentanyl.”
The film is inspired by the 2014 book, “Life After You: What Your Death From Drugs Leaves Behind,” by Linda Lajterman.
The goal of the film is to spark a dialogue about how to address the heroin epidemic.
It stars Gary Perez, Florencia Lozano and Kathryn Erbe (“Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Oz”). It has received accolades at multiple film festivals.
According to her biography, Schwab recently co-wrote and directed a third feature film, “Crybaby Bridge.” The plot is described this way on the website IMDb: “After being bullied at school, a pregnant teen’s family sets out to move from the city to the countryside, unexpectedly revealing a coveted secret of her past that threatens the fresh start they seek.”
Her second feature, the 2022 drama “A Stage of Twilight,” features Karen Allen (“Raiders of the Lost Ark”) and Hamburg native William Sadler. Sadler plays a man seeking a dignified death after being diagnosed with terminal heart disease. Allen plays his wife.
The 2023 WNED documentary “The Niagara Movement: The Early Battle for Civil Rights” is being carried by WORLD (formerly called WORLD Channel) on Feb. 12 during Black History Month.
The documentary is being released by American Public Television to stations across the country on Feb. 1. It is also available via streaming.
In my review of the 2023 year in local television, I named it “the documentary of the year.” The film explained that a movement here early in the 20th century “morphed” into the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).