Co-Producer

THE FIRST WAVE, a documentary directed by Oscar®-nominated and Emmy® Award-winning director Matthew Heineman (Cartel Land, Tiger) for National Geographic, Participant and Neon released on Hulu. For the film Gene spent hundreds of hours embedded in New York ICUs while the city was the epicenter of the global Covid-19 pandemic. THE FIRST WAVE won Emmy awards for Best Documentary, Best Cinematography and Best Editing.

With exclusive access inside one of New York’s hardest hit hospital systems during the terrifying first four months of the pandemic, THE FIRST WAVE spotlights the everyday heroes at the epicenter of COVID-19 as they come together to fight one of the greatest threats the world has ever encountered. Leaving a devastating trail of death and despair, this once-in-a-century pandemic changed the very fabric of our daily lives and exposed long-standing inequities in our society. Employing a signature approach of character-driven cinema vérité, the film team embeds with a group of doctors, nurses and patients on the frontlines as they all desperately try to navigate the crisis. With each distinct storyline serving as a microcosm through which we can view the emotional and societal impacts of the pandemic, THE FIRST WAVE is a testament to the strength of the human spirit.