Under Our Skin: Award-Winning
Filmmaker Focuses on Lyme Disease
Andy Abrahams Wilson is an award-winning documentary
filmmaker, with a personal connection to the topic of Lyme.
His non-profit company, Open Eye Pictures, is currently
making the first in-depth documentary film about the
illness. Under Our Skin: The Untold Story of Lyme Disease,
is scheduled for release in 2007. For details about the
film, please see http://www.lymediseasefilm.com. I spoke
with Andy on July 24, 2006.
Why did you choose to make a documentary about Lyme
disease?
The subject of Lyme chose me, I didn't choose it. My sister
had Lyme twenty years ago. She was complaining, and I
thought she was lazy.
Flash forward to the present, on the West coast, a good
friend of mine was getting sicker and sicker, None of the
doctors could find what's wrong, it seemed to be a mystery
illness. Plus, her symptoms were very bizarre, she was
having neurological problems. She'd walk into the
supermarket and forget who she was. Not just where she was,
but who she was. It seemed pretty incredible to me,
especially for something that couldn't be diagnosed.
I was shocked to find that no documentary has been made
about Lyme disease, at least one that is capable of
reaching a national audience.
What surprised you most during the making of the
film?
The only way to respond to that is disbelief, that it's
gotten this far and this bad. It's hard to comprehend how
so many hundreds of thousands of people are in this
situation. And that there are so few resources, such little
awareness. And that Lyme sufferers are systematically
dismissed and disregarded. So, it's really the callousness
with which our system treats the disease, and treats people
with the disease, that is surprising.
How many people did you interview for the film?
We've heard hundreds of stories, when doing the initial
subject searches through Lyme organizations, bulletin
boards and word of mouth. For the documentary, we probably
filmed at least a hundred. And those stories are alarmingly
and resoundingly similar, starting with the mysterious
symptoms, the misdiagnoses, and not being taken seriously.
Being told that it's all in their heads. Money spent,
specialists seen, those are the common threads.
Who is the audience for this film?
It's a national audience, a general audience. We want this
to be the media event that breaks through, that brings an
awareness to Lyme that it's never had.
Thank you, Andy. I wish you much good fortune with securing
funds to complete the film.
Suzanne Arthur ©2006
