Imagine going to a world where everything you were trained for is just thrown out the window.

And they're doing everything they can to help these people and mainly losing.

Despite that, they kept going on every day and providing care and providing love and providing empathy.

It was just a really, really beautiful thing to witness.

Yeah. It's just a really, really beautiful thing to witness. Hello, and welcome back to the Director's Cut, brought to you by the Directors Guild of America.

In this episode, director Matthew Heineman discusses his new documentary, The First Wave.

Chronicling the terrifying first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic,

the film spotlights the everyday heroes inside one of New York's hardest-hit hospital systems,

as they desperately try to navigate this once-in-a-century crisis,

which changed the very fabric of our daily lives and expose long-standing inequities in our society.

The first wave was screened as part of the DGA's documentary series,

which aims to spotlight groundbreaking

nonfiction films by presenting screenings of documentaries, as well as conversations with their directors.

In addition to the first wave, Mr. Heineman's directorial credits include the documentary features,

The Boy from Medellin, and Escape Fire, the Fight to Rescue American Healthcare.

He is a two-time winner of the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary

for his 2017 film City of Ghosts and his 2015 film Cartel Land.

He was also nominated for the 2018 DGA first-time feature film award for his debut narrative

feature, A Private War. Following the documentary series screening of the film at the DGA

theater in New York, Mr. Heineman spoke with director Mark Levin about filming the first wave.

Listen on for their spoiler-filled conversation.

I don't know if I can talk, Matthew, after seeing that.

...