The Inheritance
This haunting, personal film offers a firsthand perspective on the hereditary neurodegenerative Huntington’s Disease. The condition typically shows up in mid-adult life, and DNA testing has shown Wellington film editor and screenwriter Bridget Lyon is likely to fall prey. She and her husband, director Jeff McDonald, are forced to face the disease’s horrors head-on while watching her mother’s deterioration.
The Present
At 34, French traveler Dimitri Poffé tested positive for Huntington's disease, a rare, hereditary, incurable disorder that slowly erodes body and mind. His father died of it; his sister has fought its symptoms for over a decade. Genetic studies predicted Dimitri's own symptoms would begin between 35 and 40 — a countdown he could not stop. Rather than wait, he got on a bicycle. Alone, he rode 18,000 kilometers from Mexico City to Ushuaia, crossing deserts, jungles, mountains and endless plains, a route as unpredictable as the disease itself. What began as defiance became something larger: a story of resilience, solidarity and the strength to reclaim life on your own terms. More than a test of physical limits, The Present is a reminder that when the future is uncertain, the present is still ours to live — one pedal stroke at a time.