Emile

Directed by Shawn Kornhauser

"Emile" is a film tracing a year in the life of neuroscientist Emile Bruneau, Ph.D. In it, he embraces a brain cancer (glioblastoma) diagnosis with surprising positivity and works to accelerate the timeline of his scientific mission: to use the tools of neuroscience and psychology to bring peace to groups of people who are in conflict. At the same time, he reflects back on his life, including the experience of growing up with a schizophrenic mother and how that built his empathy, and considers how to prepare his young children for the loss of their father.

Bruneau, founder of the Peace and Conflict Neuroscience Lab at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, has worked to find actionable strategies for healing the divisions between groups such as Israelis and Palestinians, Democrats and Republicans, Muslims and non-Muslims, Hungarians and Roma, Colombians and the FARC, and many others. His mission is to "put science to work for peace." Read more about his work at https://pcnl.asc.upenn.edu.