The Film

A LION IN THE HOUSE follows the stories of five exceptional children and their families as they battle pediatric cancer. From the trauma of diagnosis to the physical toll of treatment, this series documents the stresses that can tear a family apart as well as the courage of children facing the possibility of death with honesty, dignity and humor. As the film compresses six years into one narrative, it puts viewers in the shoes of parents, physicians, nurses, siblings, grandparents and social workers who struggle to defeat an indiscriminate and predatory disease. To learn more about this film, visit:http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/lioninthehouse/index.htm

The Filmmakers

Directors Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert take their cameras into these dilemmas and inside hospital rooms, family homes and medical staff meetings, providing audiences with a rare look behind-the-scenes as families and medical professionals wrestle with difficult questions and negotiate a plan of action. Agonizing questions arise: in the face of a persistently negative prognosis, how do parents and children find hope for each other? When does optimism become denial? When a child doesn’t respond, at what point should treatment be stopped? And who should make the decisions—the parents, the doctors, or the children themselves?

Points of view diverge and nerves shatter as the families and children confront such life and death decisions in this intimate, intense and ultimately inspiring documentary about ordinary people working through the impossible.