Documentary touches on lives of kids with cancer

Five families in Ohio allowed access to their struggles.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- A film showing the emotional and financial stress on the families of five Cincinnati-area children with cancer premiered Friday at the Sundance Film Festival.
"A Lion in the House," directed by two Ohioans, is in the documentary competition at the nation's top showcase for independent movies.
The five families provided unrestricted access to hospital visits and their homes, capturing struggles including the loneliness of the children who have to miss school and the second-guessing by families who decide to allow extensive treatment.
Dr. Robert Arceci, then head of the cancer division at Children's Hospital Medical Center, contacted the filmmakers in 1997 and invited them to document the children's lives.
A forever job
Directors Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, of Yellow Springs, had a teenage daughter who had just finished cancer treatments. She is now 26.
"We thought this would be a three- or four-year project. We never thought it would be more than eight years," Bognar said.
Arceci had seen another movie by Bognar and did not know about the directors' daughter.
The families and their doctors will attend part of the festival in Utah and will participate in panels after screenings of the film, one of 16 documentaries chosen from 760 entries.
"They want people to understand what cancer does to a child, and the family. This is a very personal film," Reichert said.
Jennifer Moone, 14, of Mariemont, will attend the festival, even though she was too young to remember the leukemia she had when work started on the film.
"It's very powerful. They've touched on all kinds of things people can relate to," said Beth Moone, Jennifer's mother.
Arceci, who now works at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, said he previously tried unsuccessfully to get the movie made.
"This is a dream come true," he said.
He thought the film might only be shown to social workers and medical students. He's thrilled it will air on television on PBS in June.
"It's great so many people will get to see this," said Adam Ashcraft, whose brother Justin battled cancer for 10 years in Florence, Ky. "I thought it would be some obscure documentary that nobody would ever see."