She was 23, Black, female, and saved thousands from exile. History almost forgot her.
Alice Ball, a 23 year-old African American Chemist living in 1915 Hawaii fights against racial and gender barriers to find an effective treatment for leprosy before Kalani, a 10-year-old patient is exiled into the leper colony of Molokai.
Acting
Kiersey Clemons carries centuries of silenced brilliance in her shoulders.
Production
1915 Hawaii recreated with care — colonial beauty and rot together.
Writing
Economy of story: entire life, stolen legacy, in under 20 minutes.
Director
Dagmawi Abebe
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'Ball Method' remained the preferred leprosy treatment until antibiotics arrived in the 1940s. She never saw it.
Molokai's Kalaupapa colony imprisoned 8,000+ patients until 1969; some residents still live there by choice, the trauma now their only home.
US
