This ALS Awareness Month, join us for panel discussions on these incredible ALS films. This series is being hosted by The ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI) and Her ALS Story. Our emcee for the events will be Sunny of SunnyStrong.

Please note, by registering for the film festival, you will receive weekly email reminders a few hours before the event with login information for each of the panel discussions. We ask that all participants watch the films before the panel to have sufficient background knowledge for the discussion unless noted otherwise.

• A drama centered on a classical pianist who has been diagnosed with ALS and the brash college student who becomes her caregiver.
• How to watch: Prime Video streaming is the best way to watch this film!
• Panel Discussion: 5/6 7:30 CST
• Panel Participants: Sabrina Johnson and Donna York

• When doctors diagnosed 19-year-old rock star Jason Becker with Lou Gehrig's Disease, they said he would never make music again. 22 years later, without the ability to move or to speak, Jason is alive and making music with his eyes.
• How to watch: Prime Video is the best way to watch this film!
• Panel Discussion: 5/13 7:30 CST
• Panel Participants: Jason Becker

• The story of the life and career of famed baseball player Lou Gehrig.
• How to watch: Prime Video is the best way to watch this film!
• Book Pairing: “Luckiest Man” by Jonathan Eig
• Panel Discussion: 5/20 7:30 CST
• Panel Participants: TBD

• A linguistics professor and her family find their bonds tested when she is diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.
• How to watch: We will be watching this 11-minute short film together
• Book Pairing: Every Note Played by Lisa Genova
• Panel Discussion: 5/27 7:30 CST
• Panel Participants: TBD

Register to Join the Fight ALS Film Fest

The ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI) and its researchers quickly discover and validate potential treatments for ALS. It is the world's first and largest nonprofit biotech focused 100 percent on ALS research. Led by drug development experts and people with ALS, ALS TDI understands the urgent need to slow and stop this disease.

ALS TDI is recognized as an international leader in preclinical and translational ALS research, and partners with pharmaceutical companies and biotechs around the world. Awarded the highest nonprofit rating – four stars – on Charity Navigator, ALS TDI spends 87 cents of every dollar raised on finding effective treatments and cures for ALS.

Donate to ALS TDI in honor of the Fight ALS Film Fest

A group of women diagnosed with ALS before their 35th birthdays to challenge the stereotype that ALS is an older white man's disease. Her ALS Story fosters an open dialogue about their declining health in female-centric media outlets; cultivates relationships with female lawmakers to improve current insurance and Medicare standards and introduce legislation to speed up the drug pipeline; and raises money for the pursuit of unbiased, supercharged ALS research to ultimately end this devastating disease. Funds raised for Her ALS Story from the Film Fest will go towards supporting their 2023 Warrior Weekend!

Donate to Her ALS Story in honor of the Fight ALS Film Fest

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. This results in the wasting away of muscle, loss of movement and eventual paralysis. There are an estimated 30,000 people living with ALS in the United States at any given time. Every 90 minutes, someone is diagnosed with ALS.

To learn more about Lou Gehrig and the history of ALS research, click here.