Hot Docs

Fighting Back is an Emmy-winning portrait of four children at the War Memorial Children’s Hospital in London, Ontario battling leukemia at a time when no child has survived the disease. Tony Coutinho, 16, beat the cancer as an infant and spent many years in remission only to find it return over a decade later. Michael Cluff, 13, keeps spirits up on the cancer ward and at home. Showing no physical signs of the illness, his unrelenting comedy through good news and bad allows those around him a moment to pause and laugh even in the worst moments. These are children navigating their place in a world which they know with almost certainty they will not see through to adulthood. Filmed over two years, Fighting Back is the story of a group of incredible children and their resilience and determination to fight against the worst odds. Charlotte Cook

Media Coverage

• The Star/Toronto.com Feature