NOVA
2025
90
 Min
DIRECTED BY 
Stanley Nelson

Critical Condition: Health in Black America

Nominated for a 2026 Peabody Award for Public Service.

Black Americans are nearly twice as likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease than White Americans, and their life expectancy is about five years shorter. Why? In this special feature-length documentary, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson investigates the dramatic health disparities in the US, even as scientists confirm that there are no meaningful genetic differences between races. From the deep history of pseudoscientific beliefs about race that still permeate modern medicine, to the latest research on how experiencing discrimination can directly damage human cells, Critical Condition explores the factors behind the health crisis facing Black Americans.

Critical Condition: Health in Black America is a NOVA production by Firelight Films for GBH.

Are you interested in using Critical Condition as a teaching tool, or hosting a community screening? Download our Outreach Toolkit (PDF).

release

April 30, 2025

RUNTIME

90
 MIN

DISTRIBUTOR

NOVA

SHARE NOW

DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY

Stanley Nelson

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS

Keith Brown
Marcia Smith
Julia Cort
Chris Schmidt

PRODUCED BY

Cyndee Readdean
Valerie Scoon

CO-PRODUCED BY

Lynneisha Ray

Ralph Bouquet

NARRATED BY

Tamara Tunie