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Screening of "Requiem for a Running Back"

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This film features the story of Lew Carpenter who suffered from CTE due to his career as a college and professional football player. The screening will be held on February 13 at 6:30 pm in the student center theater. It will be followed by a panel discussion and talk back featuring the film's director Rebecca Carpenter who is also Lew's daughter as well as our own Matt Ventresca. Von DuBose who has been involved in concussion litigation will also speak on the panel.  

Requiem for a Running Back
Post-Film Panel and Talk Back
Monday, February 13 @ 6:30 pm
Student Center Theater
Georgia Institute of Technology
Free and Open to the Public

Requiem for a Running Back Synopsis

Director Rebecca Carpenter’s father, Lewis Carpenter, was a running back for Vince Lombardi's NFL Champion Green Bay Packers. When he dies, her family receives a surprise call from Boston University’s brain bank requesting his brain – with shocking results. Lew becomes the 18th NFL player diagnosed postmortem with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative neurocognitive disorder that can cause episodes of rage, social withdrawal, and other unusual behaviors. Carpenter finds herself at ground zero of an unfolding public health controversy and embarks on a three-year odyssey across America to explore the far-reaching implications of this “new” disease in football players.

 

Carpenter approaches her subjects with refreshing humor, manic curiosity, and a huge heart as her father’s former teammates and adversaries, scientists, historians, and other families affected by CTE offer their insights and support. Through quirky and poignant visits with family friends, former NFL players, and headline-stealing scientists such as Dr. Bennet Omalu, Rebecca pursues a mystery decades in the making. From NFL Hall of Famers like Mike Ditka and James Lofton, to neuropathologist Dr. Ann McKee, she begins to understand the depression, obsessiveness, forgetfulness, and unpredictable temper that often complicated her relationship with her dad are common side effects of repeat blunt force trauma to the brain. Trailer: https://www.requiemforarunningback.com

 

Post-Film Panel and Talk Back Participants

  • Rebecca Carpenter is the director of Requiem for a Running Back. She is also an artist and teacher who has produced media in various capacities for Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits as well as for Internet and broadcast outlets.
  • Von DuBose is the founding partner of DuBose Miller LLC and has severed as lead counsel representing a group of retired NFL players in concussion litigation against the NFL
  • Matt Ventresca is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Sports, Society, and Technology program at Georgia Tech. He is currently investigating how scientific and medical knowledge about sports-related brain injuries are packaged by the media for mass consumption and used to frame broader conversations about health, gender and sport cultures.
  • Mary McDonald (moderator) is the Homer C. Rice Chair in Sport and Society at Georgia Tech.

 

Status

  • Workflow Status:Published
  • Created By:Kayleigh Haskin
  • Created:01/09/2017
  • Modified By:Kayleigh Haskin
  • Modified:01/09/2017

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