Montefiore‘s short film Corazón made its world premiere during the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival as a Tribeca X finalist to great fanfare. Starring Academy Award nominee Demian Bichir and actress Ana de Armas, and directed by John Hillcoat Corazón is a powerful, and emotional 48-minute short film based on a real-life doctor patient story. The film, now available for public viewing at corazonfilm.com is presented by Montefiore, and is a Serial Pictures and JohnXHannes New York production.

Corazón depicts the story of Elena Ramirez (de Armas), a young Dominican woman living in Santo Domingo who is selling her body to provide for her family – only Elena’s body is failing her. Elena has a bad heart and has been given months to live unless she gets a new heart.

After fainting, Elena meets a U.S.-based cardiologist, Dr. Mario Garcia (Bichir), who is volunteering in his native hometown of Santo Domingo. Elena is past the point of help from conventional medicine, but Dr. Garcia gives her a fighting chance to live via a mechanical heart surgery that he and his colleagues can only perform at Montefiore in the Bronx. Elena sets out on a journey from Santo Domingo to New York City, facing challenges along the way, but always motivated by her conviction to live. This is a story of chance, hope, courage, friendship, love and generosity.

“Meeting the real people behind this remarkable story and feeling the genuine compassion of the key doctors involved was so impactful,” said Hillcoat. “They were in it for all the right reasons – fighting for human life itself.”

While embracing human compassion, Corazón is also a call to action. Montefiore Health System in partnership with Donate Life launched #GiveYourHeart, and is asking the public to become donors. Roughly 5 new people will be added to the transplant list in the United States during the duration of watching Corazón. In fact, 115,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for a life-saving organ donation right now. But less than half will actually receive one. 22 people die every day because there simply aren’t enough organs. Because of Corazón, thousands of new heartbeats have already been added to the organ donor community through the interactive living site corazonfilm.com/give. Each new beating heart donated represents that this world works best when we help each other.

“Corazón brings to light the experience that sadly thousands of families face…the journey to a new heart as well as other organs. Elena like all mechanical heart recipients still needs a heart donation. We hope this film will inspire viewers to become organ donors and #GiveYourHeart,” says David Fleming, Donate Life America President & CEO.

“‘Doing More’ is the heart of Montefiore and Corazón is an extension of that message. We’re using this film as a vehicle to bring awareness to the need for organ donors, which is why we decided to partner with Donate Life and intentionally make #GiveYourHeart the key takeaway from the film,” added Loreen Babcock, Chief Marketing Officer of Montefiore.

For Corazón film, trailer, film details, assets and more information, please visit www.corazonfilm.com