Henrietta Lacks

October 6 and 7

Arts Printing House, 19:00

It is hard to imagine that behind such major scientific breakthroughs as gene therapy, cancer and AIDS treatments lie the cells of a single woman’s body. This woman is Henrietta Lacks – her cells were taken without her knowing, transferred to the laboratory, successfully multiplied and used for many years before and after her death. Director Anna Smolar paints the life of Henrietta Lacks, a black US resident, with precise strokes. After she died in 1951, her cells continue to live not only in laboratories, but in the bodies of many of us, as they became the basis of the polio vaccine. At the same time, Henrietta is also a victim of systemic racism rooted in the world.

Kristina Savickienė