HBO to Debut Documentary EBOLA: THE DOCTORS' STORY & More 3/14

One of the biggest news stories of 2015 was the West African EBOLA pandemic that claimed tens of thousands of lives. Telling extraordinary STORIES OF COURAGE and perseverance amidst the crisis, the groundbreaking short films EBOLA: THE DOCTORS' STORY, BODY TEAM 12 (current Oscar® nominee for Best Documentary Short) and ORPHANS OF EBOLA debut back-to-back MONDAY, MARCH 14 (9:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO

Other HBO playdates for all three films: March 14 (2:50 a.m.), 17 (4:00 p.m., 11:00 p.m.), 21 (10:15 a.m.) and 22 (12:10 p.m.)

HBO2 playdates for all three films: March 16 (8:00 p.m.) and 30 (2:30 p.m., 12:15 a.m.)

Other HBO playdate for BODY TEAM 12 and EBOLA: THE DOCTORS' STORY only:March 19 (3:15 p.m.)

Other HBO2 playdate for ORPHANS OF EBOLA only: March 27 (9:25 a.m.)

The documentaries will also be available on HBO NOW, HBO GO and HBO On Demand.

These HBO DOCUMENTARY FILMS presentations approach the subject from different perspectives, following the doctors, the response teams and the children left orphaned by this devastating disease. The trilogy paints a picture of the EBOLA crisis over a period of eight months, from the outbreak's rapid escalation, through the height of the epidemic, to its waning. Ranging from international response teams, to local citizen-responders, to ordinary families, the documentaries highlight the urgent need to treat the sick, the grim and dangerous collection of the dead, and the aftermath of survivors picking up the pieces.

Steven Grandison's EBOLA: THE DOCTORS' STORY joins Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim, a British emergency response doctor, inside a Doctors Without Borders EBOLA treatment center in Kalilahun, Sierra Leone as the epidemic escalates dramatically in fall 2014. Attached to the doctors' goggles, cameras designed to enter the "hot zone" of the facility reveal for the first time the realities of battling an unprecedented outbreak. Dr. Abdelmoneim, along with local and international colleagues, fights for the survival of his patients, and helps families reunite or cope with overwhelming loss.

BODY TEAM 12 highlights the heroic and heartbreaking work of Garmai Sumo, a female Liberian Red Cross worker tasked with collecting the dead from homes and villages, and removing the bodies to halt transmission of the disease. In a tightrope act of high-risk filmmaking, director-journalist David Darg embedded with the Red Cross on the ground in Monrovia, Liberia, during the height of the outbreak.

Darg's poignant images recount the EBOLA crisis through the story of Sumo, the sole female member of the body collection team, who reflects on the cultural and social upheavals caused by the disease, as well as her resolve to fight for her country's future. Edited by Darg while he was in full quarantine for three weeks, the film was executive produced by philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen as part of his commitment to combat the EBOLA crisis in West AFRICA and co-executive produced by actress Olivia Wilde (HBO's "Vinyl").

Ben Steele's ORPHANS OF EBOLA follows Abu, a 12-year-old boy from a Sierra Leone village, who loses eight members of his family and must restart his life elsewhere. Filmed over a period of four months, beginning just after the height of the epidemic in Dec. 2014 through the reopening of the country's schools in April 2015, Abu's story illustrates the incredible bravery of the thousands of children who have been orphaned by EBOLA as they reconcile with the past and forge new lives.

The unprecedented EBOLA crisis - and the responses to it - have left a legacy for generations to come, even as the outbreak is officially declared "over."

An HBO DOCUMENTARY FILMS presentation. EBOLA: THE DOCTORS' STORY: produced and directed by Steven Grandison; executive producers Karen Edwards and Lucie Kon. BODY TEAM 12: directed by David Darg; produced by David Darg and Bryn Mooser; executive producer, Paul G. Allen; co-executive producers, Olivia Wilde and Carole Tomko. ORPHANS OF EBOLA: filmed, written and directed by Ben Steele; executive producers, Karen Edwards and Fiona Stourton. For HBO: senior producer, Nancy Abraham; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.

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