The Calling

The Calling follows the journey of a group of diverse medical students at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx as they learn what it takes to become doctors in one of America’s most underserved communities.

Over the course of a year, the students share the humbling challenges they face, the crises of self-doubt and exhaustion, and the moments of encouragement that inspire them to go on. Through their first encounters with patients, the students confront the flaws and inequity in our health care system as they question and rediscover the motivations that made them strive to become doctors in the first place.

The film’s central narrative follows Alexandra and Le’Shauna, two fourth-year students, as they embark on the next step of their journey, applying for the hospital residencies that will define their careers. Woven throughout, the film also introduces younger students whose experiences echo and illuminate what Alexandra and Le’Shauna faced on the road to their true calling.

Captured in verité scenes and intimate video diaries, the first-year students struggle to keep up with the punishing workload, meet their first cadavers, and engage with real patients for the first time. Meanwhile, the third-year students rotate through different specialties, juggling long shifts in the hospital with study marathons for the all-important exams that will make or break their futures.