GENTLE
BY BIRTH

After her 23-year-old brother Kevin dies of a fentanyl overdose, filmmaker Doree Simon Hatfield sets out to understand how stigma shaped his addiction and the treatment options available to him. Her search takes her from her living room in Pittsburgh to harm reduction sites, music festivals, and the steps of Pennsylvania’s Capitol.

Along the way, educators, public health experts, harm reductionists, and drug policy advocates challenge what she thought she knew about drugs. But as her understanding deepens and her fear of drugs recedes, Doree makes a choice to try them herself, transforming the film from an inquiry into her brother’s death into a provocative reckoning with shame, challenging herself and her family to rethink their own beliefs about drugs.