_The Waiting Room

Peter Nicks’s 2012 film The Waiting Room has received wide acclaim for its candid take on the American healthcare system. The feature-length film is a cinema verité look into the life of an Oakland hospital’s waiting room, filmed over the course of a month. The film, however, is only a facet of a larger storytelling project, a transmedia and community-based initiative with an online hub.

Currently, its website features short stories from the waiting room that did not feature prominently in the film. These stories can be organized by issue (community, health insurance, poverty, etc.) or emotion (hope, grief, gratitude, etc.). The shorts portray subjects who are often uninsured, humanizing the healthcare debate. The storytelling project also allows for audience contributions through a mobile app, an installation at the Oakland hospital, and the web.