On January 9, 2024, Sarah Schenck screened her new film The Invisible Extinction and discussed her personal journey with filmmaking, her passion for science, and how that passion influences her current work. Sarah Schenck is a self-taught filmmaker and produced Virgin, starring Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) and Robin Wright (Forrest Gump, The Princess Bride) for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature Film Under $500,000. Her feature comedy Slippery Slope won prizes at film festivals worldwide. Now she is working on The Invisible Extinction, which spotlights the extraordinary work and charismatic personalities of renowned scientists Martin Blaser, and his partner in the lab and life, Gloria Dominguez-Bello, as they endeavor to save the vanishing microbes that are essential for our survival. The film joins them on this urgent quest from the USA to Venezuela, China, Israel, and Switzerland, showing us how the overuse of antibiotics, elective C-sections, and processed foods are driving the destruction of our inner ecology, which is happening even faster than climate change. As the COVID-19 pandemic hits, Blaser pivots to focus on how our microbes may help protect us from the virus and future pandemics, while Dominguez-Bello spearheads the creation of an international microbe vault to safeguard precious bugs that may help cure chronic illnesses.