“A must-see for anyone who cares about healthcare.” – San Francisco Chronicle

After a year in the festival circuit garnering awards and standing ovations across the country, The Chaplain & The Doctor will be screening at the Marroney Theater in Tucson. Join us for this sneak preview event before we take The Chaplain & The Doctor back out on the road for our national screening tour and impact campaign. The screening will be followed by a panel Q&A featuring film director Dr. Jessica Zitter and producer Jen Gilomen moderated by film editor Jacob Bricca, ACE.

Can’t make the screening, but want to see the film? Join our newsletter or follow our socials to be the first to learn of our upcoming digital release.

About The Film

Documentary | 86 minutes | Premiering Theatrically in Spring 2026

Betty Clark is an 80-year-old, African American chaplain on staff at The Wilma Chan Highland Hospital Campus, the level-one trauma center in Oakland, California. Jessica Zitter is a white, Jewish physician who has been Betty’s colleague on the Palliative Care service for over a decade. The two women are an unlikely team: chaplains and doctors do not usually pair up within the hierarchical and siloed halls of the hospital. Dr. Zitter, trained to believe in medical interventions and science, was not seeking a relationship with a chaplain. And Chaplain Clark never expected the doctor to take interest in her work.

But with time, the two women’s shared values and history overcome the forces that keep them apart, and they go on to do their best work together. Under Betty’s guidance, Jessica begins a journey to understand the barriers and biases that doctors like herself often bring to the bedside.

As Betty starts to face her own health challenges, Jessica takes over her care through a deeply personal lens, witnessing more intimately the experience of patients of color in America’s hospitals – this time, with someone she’s grown to love.

The Chaplain & The Doctor models a new kind of care, one that honors both spirit and body, the diverse backgrounds of patients, and the most human needs we all share.

Contact the host of Sneak Preview of The Chaplain & The Doctor at UofA's Marroney Theatre, Tucson, AZ