Jeroen Geurts
In The Mystery of MS
Science
Synopsis
The Mystery of MS
Neuroscientist Jeroen Geurts has dedicated his career to finding the cause of multiple sclerosis, a brain disease affecting millions. He hopes to find a cure within ten years.
Unsure of what exactly he is looking for, his mission feels like wandering through a dark forest. Following his intuition, he searches in places others have neglected. Geurts says he is trying to find something which “language cannot yet grasp”, and emphasises the role of metaphors in this scientific field riddled with mysteries.
Credits
- Character
- Jeroen Geurts
- Director
- Suzanne Raes
- Country
- Netherlands
- Duration
- 15 min
- Year
- 2023
- Co-producer
- Docmakers
Neuroscientist Jeroen Geurts ventures off the beaten track to find the cause of MS.
Jeroen Geurts
Jeroen Geurts (1978) is a pioneer in tracking difficult-to-detect abnormalities in the brains of MS patients. In the course of his career he arrived at a new theory about the cause of MS, one which fundamentally differs from the theory held by most of his colleagues.
Geurts studied medical biology at the University of Amsterdam and was awarded his PhD by the VU (Amsterdam). As a VUmc-researcher he was later appointed Professor of Translational Neuroscience and head of the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience.
Acclaims
- Rector magnificus of VU University Amsterdam
- Founder of Brein in Beeld, an organisation that spreads knowledge about the brain and promotes interdisciplinary brain research
- Board of Directors, Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
- SCREENINGS & REACH
- Nomination Best Short Science Series
- SILBERSALZ Science & Media Awards 2023
Premiere and film festivals
The short version of The Mystery of MS premiered in 2023 at the Go Short Film Festival in Nijmegen. The film was subsequently screened at Docville in Leuven, the PAS Maastricht Festival, and the Night of Discoveries in Leiden. Together with four other Ammodo documentaries, it was nominated for Best Short Science Series at the Silbersalz Science & Media Awards.
Partner collaborations
The Mystery of MS was broadcast on the Dutch public television channels NPO2 and NPO2 Extra via NTR. The film is also available to stream on NPO Start.
In addition, the film is available on the streaming platforms Labocine and Eye Film Player, the streaming service of the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, where it is also preserved in the archive.
Director
Suzanne Raes
Director Suzanne Raes (1969) is known, among other things, for the documentaries 0.03 seconds (2017) and Heart of Democracy (2020). Her film Twee Mannen – Ivo van Hove & Jan Versweyveld won the award for Best Documentary Feature at Brugge International Film Festival 2022. In 2019, Raes released the film MS together with Ammodo which won three prizes at Pariscience International Film Festival 2020, including the Grand Prix. The Mystery of MS is a new, shorter version of that film.