When Parkinson's strikes her husband and neighbors, a filmmaker investigates a toxic secret in their valley, confronting a chemical giant's decades of deceit.
Where The Sweet Birds Sang examines how the chemicals we rely on to grow our food have consequences far beyond their intended use—shaping public health, environmental safety, and the lives of our loved ones. While this story originates in a singular love between a husband and wife, its implications reach far wider, raising questions that affect us all.
Parkinson’s is the fastest growing neurological disorder in the world.
Since 1990, Global Parkinson’s rates have risen 386% — from 2.8 million to 10.8 million.
Where The Sweet Birds Sang is a tool for advocacy—helping communities and policy-makers better understand the impact of pesticides and Parkinson’s disease.
Together with our partners we’ve embarked on an campaign to ban paraquat and protect future generations from toxic exposures.
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It takes a village.
Get to know the brilliant scientists, journalists, and researchers who informed Where The Sweet Birds Sang.
Ray Dorsey, Neurologist
Ray Dorsey is a practicing neurologist at Atria Health and Research Institute in New York. He is also the director of Atria’s Center for the Brain & the Environment, a nonprofit research initiative that investigates the environmental causes of brain diseases, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and more.
Ray is one of the world’s most read, cited, and followed neurologists. With his colleagues, he wrote Ending Parkinson’s Disease: A Prescription for Action, a book that provides a prescription for preventing and ending the world’s fastest growing brain disease. His new book – The Parkinson’s Plan - debuted at #5 on the New York Times best seller list.
Ray previously was the David M. Levy Professor of Neurology at the University of Rochester. Before that, he directed the University of Rochester’s Center for Health + Technology, was elected chair of the international Huntington Study Group, and led the movement disorders division and neurology telemedicine at Johns Hopkins.
In 2015, the White House recognized Ray as a “Champion for Change” for Parkinson’s disease.
Carey Gillam, Investigative Journalist
Carey Gillam is an American investigative journalist and author with more than 30 years of experience covering food and agricultural policies and practices, including 17 years as a senior correspondent for Reuters international news service (1998-2015). She has specialty knowledge about the health and environmental impacts of pervasive pesticide use and industrial agriculture, and has won several industry awards for her work. Her first book Whitewash- The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer and the Corruption of Science was released in October 2017, and won the coveted Rachel Carson Book Award from the Society of Environmental Journalists. Carey's second book, The Monsanto Papers - Deadly Secrets, Corporate Corruption, and One Man's Search for Justice, was released March 2, 2021.
Carey has been asked to speak all over the world about food and agricultural matters, including before the European Parliament in Brussels, the World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg, and to public officials, organizations and conferences in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Argentina, France and The Netherlands.
After leaving Reuters, Carey spent six years (2016-2021) working as a reporter and data researcher for the public health investigative research group U.S. Right to Know. She currently writes as a contributor for The Guardian, and is managing editor of The New Lede, a journalism initiative of the Environmental Working Group.
Bas Bloem, Neurologist
Bas Bloem is a consultant neurologist in the department of neurology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. His studies include gait and balance disorders, and the development and evaluation of person-centered medicine. Since 2018, he has been doing a lot of work on the relationship between Parkinson’s and exposure to toxins in our environment. Along with Ray, Bas was a coauthor on Ending Parkinson’s Disease. He has published more than 750 peer-reviewed papers, including several large clinical trials appearing in high-end scientific journals. He is ranked among the top 1% most cited scientists in the world.
Bas is past president of the International Society for Gait and Postural Research. He recently became an Officer (secretary-elect) for the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. Since 2017, he has served on the Executive Scientific Advisory Board of The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. In 2018, he was elected as member of the “Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen” (the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities), the oldest scientific society in the Netherlands. In 2018, he won the Tom Isaacs award as a recognition of his longstanding achievements in the field of Parkinson’s disease.
Caroline Tanner, Neurologist
Carlie Tanner is the Director of the Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education, and Clinical Center (PADRECC) at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. She is also Professor of Neurology at the University of California - San Francisco. For more than 25 years, her research and clinical practice have been directed toward understanding the causes of Parkinson’s disease and to developing better treatments.
She has conducted pivotal work on environmental and genetic risk factors for Parkinson’s and other neurological conditions, while remaining active in patient care, teaching and being published extensively. Her current research projects include conducting participant reported-outcomes, harnessing technology to increase participation in clinical research and access to care, the early identification of persons at risk of PD and the design and performance of trials to prevent PD. She is also the Prinicipal Investigator of Fox Insight, an online clinical study facilitated by the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) that aims to build a large cohort of people with Parkinson’s to provide the research community with critical insight into the lived experience, genetics and variability of Parkinson’s.
In 2020, Carlie was awarded the Tom Isaacs award for her impact on the lives of those living with Parkinson’s.
Karen McCormack, former EPA Scientist
Karen McCormack is a retired Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientist who spent over 40 years with the agency.
During her career at EPA, she first worked in an EPA laboratory as a research coordinator and in that capacity, conducted research on pesticides. Later she transferred to EPA’s Headquarters in Washington, D.C. where she worked in various positions in the pesticide program as a scientist, policy analyst, and communications officer. Karen also worked in a number of offices at EPA, including the Office of the Assistant Administrator for pesticides and toxics.
Since retirement, Karen has been outspoken about industry influence on the EPA, particularly in the Office of Pesticide Programs. In 2022, she testified before Congress about lack of EPA oversight in regulation of pesticides used in pet products.
Brittany Kryzanowski, Geographer
Brittany Krzyzanowski is a research assistant professor in the Neuroepidemiology Research Program and the Barrow Neuro Analytics Center of the Department of Neurology at Barrow Neurological Institute.
She is a geographer with expertise in spatial epidemiology and human-environment interaction research. She studies the effects of environmental exposures on neurodegenerative diseases. She is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Association of Geographers, the Minnesota Population Center, and the Population Association of America.
Brittany earned her doctorate in geography from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and her master’s degree in experimental psychology from Central Michigan University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the neurology department at Washington University School of Medicine.
The expertise of the Krzyzanowski Laboratory includes spatial data analysis, geostatistical modeling, chronic disease epidemiology, regionalization, and environmental health. Additional research interests involve health disparities, climate change, neurological disorders, air pollution, geographic masking, patient data privacy, and dynamic geographic visualization.
Sam Goldman, Neurologist
Sam Goldman is a professor at the University of California, San Francisco in the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and the Department of Neurology.
He has published extensively on the epidemiology of Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, with a focus on elucidating potential environmental risk factors (e.g., pesticides, solvents, smoking, and traumatic brain injury) and on the interaction of these risk factors with genetic susceptibility. His recent work has focused on identifying and characterizing clinical features of very early Parkinson’s disease – an essential step to advance the development of future disease-modifying therapeutic interventions.
Sam attended medical school at the University of Texas, Houston, and trained in preventive medicine at the University of California, Berkeley, where he also obtained his MPH in environmental health science.
Kevin Hylton, Environmental Scientist
Kevin Hylton is an environmental scientist with more than forty years of experience in air, water and hazardous waste media, from sampling and wet chemistry to environmental regulatory compliance to remedial design and project management.
His formal training is a BS in Environmental Science from Florida Tech, an MS in Industrial Hygiene from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and held a certification in Project Management. He’s held positions in basic industry, public utilities and consulting. He has authored several professional papers, co-authored a book on environmental management and holds a patent on a hazardous waste detoxification process. For the last twelve years of his professional career, he operated his own consulting business focused on managing large scale environmental cleanup projects with budgets in the tens of millions of dollars.
Following his wife’s diagnosis with Parkinson disease, Kevin closed his business and retired. In 2022, along with a few like-minded people, he co-founded the Rochester Parkinson Network, a 501(c)(3) corporation dedicated to providing information, resources and allies to those affected by PD. He currently serves as its President.
Chris Ryan, Chemist
Chris Ryan is a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) C, Organic Chemistry and is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC) and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.
He is the Managing Director of Equa Pharma, a pharmaceutical company specializing in Commercial Consultancy.
Chris lives in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, UK with his wife, Liz, who has Parkinson’s disease.
The personal is political.
Get to know the filmmakers behind Where The Sweet Birds Sang below!
Sarah Teale, Director & Producer
Sarah Teale was the producer/Director for HBO’s documentary Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America’s Elections which was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding investigative Documentary in 2021 and the HBO series The Weight of the Nation, which was nominated for a Prime Time Emmy.
HBO films she produced and directed include Dealing Dogs (Emmy nomination for Outstanding Investigative Documentary); Hacking Democracy (Emmy nomination for Outstanding investigative Documentary); Death on a Factory Farm; Bellevue: Inside Out and Mumia Abu Jamal: A Case for Reasonable Doubt? (Cable Ace Award nomination).
She has also produced and directed documentaries for the BBC, A&E and Discovery. She recently produced the feature documentaries Grazers: A Cooperative Story with Lisa F. Jackson, distributed by Collective Eye and Passion River and Patrimonio, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and Full Frame and is distributed by First Run Features.
Max Peltz, Producer
Max Peltz is an Emmy-nominated film and television producer, best known for producing the Netflix Original How to Rob a Bank (two weeks at Global Top 10).
Previously, Max wrote and produced In the Cold Dark Night (Emmy nominated for Outstanding Writing Documentary), that aired on ABC, Hulu, and Sky Documentaries, and was later released on BET+ as a four-part series. He then produced Bad Hombres for Showtime and the cybersecurity series hacker:HUNTER, which was viewed by more than 12 million people between 2019 and 2023.
Max is an Executive Producer on Balomania, which premiered to wide acclaim at CPH:DOX in 2024 and has received multiple award nominations, including Best Documentary Feature at the 2025 Robert Awards. He is also a Co-Executive Producer on the three-part docuseries Fugitive: The Mystery of the Crypto Queen, released on Channel 4 in July 2024, and a Consulting Producer on the eco-thriller Rhino, narrated by Tom Hardy and released theatrically in November 2025.
Max is a voting BAFTA member and began his career working with award-winning producer Lawrence Elman and BBC Storyville commissioning editor Nick Fraser.
Maxim Gertler-Jaffe, Producer
Maxim Gertler-Jaffe is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker whose work spans documentary, scripted, and multimedia storytelling. Most recently, he produced How to Rob A Bank, a Global Top 10 hit on Netflix. In 2022, Maxim co-directed the multimedia short-form documentary Chinatown 2050 with architect and artist Linda Zhang. The project premiered at DOXA and SDAFF, with a VR version featured at Toronto’s Nuit Blanche.
Maxim has played a key role in the development and production of acclaimed feature documentaries, including All Governments Lie, which screened at TIFF and IDFA, enjoyed a North American theatrical run, and was broadcast internationally. He also contributed to The Truth is in the Stars, a Netflix acquired documentary following William Shatner as he interviews celebrity trekkies such as Stephen Hawking, Ben Stiller, and Whoopi Goldberg.
Beyond documentaries, Maxim co-created the award-winning short scripted series World Away. Additionally, he has produced, directed, and edited promotional and campaign videos for prominent clients like CBC Television and the Writers’ Trust of Canada.
Tom Hurwitz, Director of Photography
Tom Hurwitz, ASC Has been a director and cameraman for over 40 years. He is one of America’s most honored documentary cinematographers, the first documentarian to be inducted into the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC). Hurwitz is the recipient of the 2024 Peabody Award for directing the documentary, Can You Bring It (PBS, Amazon). He has also won two Emmy Awards, the Sundance and Jerusalem Film Festival Awards for Best Cinematography, and has photographed films that have won four Academy Awards and several more nominations (most recently for Dancemaker and Killing in the Name). Most recently his Starman is opening this year’s SXSW film festival in Austin, TX. He has taught for decades on the film faculties of NYU and The School of Visual Arts.
80 to 90% of Parkinson’s cases are caused by environmental factors.
By limiting toxic exposures, we have the power to protect future generations.