Minds Wide Open Wins Three New York Film Festivals TV & Film Awards

MENLO PARK, California, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Minds Wide Open, a film commissioned by the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute, was recently awarded two 2019 New York Festivals TV & Film Awards Gold World Medals – one in the Science & Technology Documentary category and the other for best Branded Documentary Production. The film also won a Bronze World Medal in the Feature Documentary Film category at this year's festival. MENLO PARK, California,April 9, 2019/PRNewswire/ -- Minds...

MENLO PARK, California, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Minds Wide Open, a film commissioned by the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute, was recently awarded two 2019 New York Festivals TV & Film Awards Gold World Medals – one in the Science & Technology Documentary category and the other for best Branded Documentary Production. The film also won a Bronze World Medal in the Feature Documentary Film category at this year's festival.

"We are honored to receive such esteemed recognition for Minds Wide Open from New York Festivals TV & Film Awards," explained Tianqiao Chen, TCCI Co-Founder. "Making this film was important to us because it highlights just how close scientists studying the brain and mind are to making really meaningful breakthroughs that will help the world. We have made significant commitments to help advance the field, however more support is needed from other philanthropists, funders and members of the public."

The 60-minute documentary, produced with Merchant Cantos, debuted on the Discovery Channel in September 2018 and shortly thereafter won three Gold Awards in the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards in the medical, educational and science & technology categories. In December 2018, the film won a Gold Standard Award in Hong Kong for Broadcast and Video from Public Affairs Asia and earlier this month, Minds Wide Open was short-listed for a Brand Film Festival London Award (May 2019).

"We commissioned Minds Wide Open as a way of advocating for the scientific community," commented Chrissy Luo, TCC Co-Founder. "Our hope is that scientists and researchers can use the film to make the case for supporting early-career scientists and for taking an interdisciplinary approach to studying the human brain."

The film features some of the world's most innovative scientists and doctors from UC Berkeley, Caltech, Harvard, Fudan University-affiliated Huashan Hospital, Oxford ( Jesus College) and Stanford. These experts present compelling advances in brain research, psychiatry, biology, robotics and artificial intelligence – and demonstrate how they can help people whose lives are affected by brain disease and disorders.

Monica Coenraad's daughter Chelsea is one of these people. Chelsea has Rett Syndrome, a rare, devastating, genetic brain disorder which affects approximately 350,000 individuals worldwide. In the film, Monica describes how working with Rett experts like Michael Greenberg, PhD at Harvard Medical School gives her hope. "I don't expect a 100 per cent, 'like it never ever even happened,' cure for Chelsea, but I do think that there can be dramatic improvements. I think we're at the point now where we're going to have an opportunity to try, and that's really exciting." 

As part of their billion-dollar commitment to brain science, the Chens plan to create new cornerstone partnerships with international institutions and programs that will support scientists working on the brain and mind. They will create other films to highlight advances in the science, the challenges faced by scientists and opportunities they see for making progress in the quest to unlock the mysteries of the human mind.

Minds Wide Open is available for sale or rent on Apple iTunes, Amazon Video and Google Play. All proceeds are being donated to research and patient causes in the film such as The Rett Syndrome Trust.

A free, 26-minute version is on YouTube here: http://bit.ly/mindswide

About Minds Wide Open
Husband and wife philanthropists, Tianqiao Chen and Chrissy Luo, commissioned Tim May, an award-winning producer who started his career at the BBC, to oversee production of the film with MerchantCantos, a leading production company in the United Kingdom. The original soundtrack, composed by Sion Trefor, is brought to life by acclaimed singer-songwriter Charlotte Church. More information about the film can be found at www.MindsWideOpenFilm.com.

About the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute:
The Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute (TCCI) was founded in 2016 by Tianqiao Chen and his wife Chrissy Luo, the founders of Shanda Group, who committed US $1 billion to help advance fundamental brain research. With a US $115 million donation, TCCI created the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech later that year. The couple has committed CNY 500 million to support TCCI's work in China and in 2017, they created a strategic partnership with the Zhou Liangfu Foundation and Huashan Hospital in Shanghai. In 2018, Shanghai Mental Health Center joined the partnership. Follow TCCI news at www.ChenInstitute.org, on LinkedIn, or via Twitter @ChenInstitute.

NOTE TO EDITOR: The following is a summary of the scientists, patients and topics covered in the film:

Chair, Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School

Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair

Professor of Physics