CFAM Films

CFAM Films & Hippocrates Cafe Productions

Hippocrates Cafe Productions (HCP) was created by Dr. Jon Hallberg, a professor in the Department of Family Medicine and the creative director of the Center for the Art of Medicine (CFAM). HCP grew out of a live, inspired-by-radio show that ran from 2009 to 2020. It explored complex health topics through story and song, using professional actors and musicians. With the onset of the pandemic, it morphed into a television show ("Reflections on the Pandemic"), produced with Twin Cities Public Television (TPT PBS), and HCP was born.

Hippocrates Cafe Productions is dedicated to creating projects that explore health-related stories with sensitivity, curiosity, and deep empathy. We are especially interested in producing films that destigmatize, seek to improve the public’s health, increase health literacy, model kindness, and promote primary care (especially family medicine).

Since 2020, HPC has produced a series of four Art + Medicine films with TPT PBS (three of which won regional Emmy Awards); three Motionpoems films; and one documentary short, “How to Care” (which won a 2025 regional Emmy Award). There are currently four more films in various stages of production.

Art + Medicine Series

The Art + Medicine series was created in partnership with Twin Cities Public Television:

• Art + Medicine: Reflections on the Pandemic premiered September 2020 and awarded 2021 Upper Midwest Regional Emmy
• Art + Medicine: Speaking of Race premiered March 2022 and awarded 2022 Upper Midwest Regional Emmy
• Art + Medicine: Healthy Aging premiered October 2022
• Art + Medicine: Disability, Culture and Creativity premiered October 2023 and awarded 2024 Upper Midwest Regional Emmy

Other Films

• "How to Care" premiered April 2025; awarded 2025 Upper Midwest Regional Emmy and Jury and Audience Choice Awards for Best Documentary Short at the 2025 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival