'Breaking the Silence: Voices of Hepatitis C' is an 18-minute short documentary that explores the profound emotional impact of living with hepatitis C.

The film uses powerful storytelling to reframe hepatitis C from a chronic liver condition to a devastating infectious disease — one that has deep emotional consequences for the daily lives of patients and their loved ones.

The film follows three patients — Mary, Audrey and Alvin — who share the same doctor, but are at different stages of coming to terms with or treating the disease. The casting of the film, ranging across socioeconomic and demographic lines, defies and humanizes disease state stereotypes.

The doctor, a celebrated hepatologist at the University of Chicago, serves as the trusted narrator chronicling the innovations that are changing the treatment paradigm for hepatitis C — and driving significantly higher cure rates.

While respectfully mining the emotional richness of the first-hand patient accounts — and laying bare the anguish that hepatitis C leaves in its wake, 'Breaking the Silence' nonetheless delivers a powerful message of hope. A hope for a sustained virologic cure for hepatitis C. A hope for now.