COVID Film Showcases the Comfort in Community

To highlight the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on African-American communities in the Southeast, Atlanta-based Out of Hand Theater produced a narrative film in 2022 that helped bring culturally relevant artistic engagements, public health messaging and public health leaders to vaccination events in Georgia. The film, titled “Comfort,” features a family coping with loss during the pandemic and was released during the summer of 2022. One screening took place as part of a community health fair outside the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia in June 2022. “It was so powerful, moving, and just so relevant,” said one community member about the film. Not only did “Comfort” resonate with the audience, its success led to a partnership with the Georgia Department of Public Health as part of an effort to provide three more years of vaccine programming in Georgia.

Funding for this effort is made possible through a subaward from the CDC Foundation and is part of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) financial assistance award totaling $2,500,000.00 with 100 percent funding from CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, CDC/HHS or the U.S. Government.