The Chaplain & The Doctor

Film Synopsis

Filled with warmth and humor, this buddy film follows two unlikely allies working to bring curiosity, connection, and compassion to a broken healthcare system – one patient at a time.

Betty Clark is an 80-year-old, African American chaplain on staff at The Wilma Chan Highland Hospital Campus, the level-one trauma center in Oakland, California. Jessica Zitter is a white, Jewish physician who has been Betty’s colleague on the Palliative Care service for over a decade. The two women are an unlikely team: chaplains and doctors do not usually pair up within the hierarchical and siloed halls of the hospital. Dr. Zitter, trained to believe in medical interventions and science, was not seeking a relationship with a chaplain. And Chaplain Clark never expected the doctor to take interest in her work.

But with time, the two women’s shared values and history overcome the forces that keep them apart, and they go on to do their best work together. Under Betty’s guidance, Jessica begins a journey to understand the barriers and biases that doctors like herself often bring to the bedside.

As Betty starts to face her own health challenges, Jessica takes over her care through a deeply personal lens, witnessing more intimately the experience of patients of color in America’s hospitals – this time, with someone she’s grown to love.

The Chaplain & The Doctor models a new kind of care, one that honors both spirit and body, the diverse backgrounds of patients, and the most human needs we all share.