What does it take to win a Nobel Prize?

One balmy evening in the most isolated capital city in the world – Perth, Western Australia – two unassuming medical blokes were interrupted by a phone call from Stockholm while enjoying their fish and chips . They had won the 2005 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology and could they make it to the Awards ceremony on the 10th of December?

Australian doctors, Barry Marshall and Robin Warren’s journey to the prize-winners’ podium is more than just a trip to the opposite side of the world to zero temperatures, cultural pomp and precise Swedish scheduling. It is the ultimate acknowledgement for a career long struggle, trial and error, endless research, and stubborn determination. The questioning minds of Marshall and Warren revolutionised the medical community’s approach to treatment and dramatically improved the health prospects of millions of people by identifying the real cause of stomach ulcers – helicobactor pylori.

This film looks at Warren and Marshall’s lives and families, their peers and work struggles, and their paradigm-shifting research to reveal the massive impact, wonder and excitement of groundbreaking scientific discovery.

Awards & Festivals

• Golden Dragon Award, Science Popularisation Category, Beijing International Scientific Films Festival 2006
• Outstanding Achievement Award, Documentary Production, WA Screen Awards 2007