A masked care worker spoon-feeds a bedridden older woman. A son carries his father, a retired Navy SEAL, down a flight of stairs. An Alzheimer’s caregiver sets up a plate of food.
These snapshots appear in a trailer for “Caregiving,” a two-hour documentary produced by award-winning actor Bradley Cooper. The film chronicles the hardships and triumphs of caregivers, dubbed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the “backbone” of long-term care.
“Caregiving” will be available via an early streaming premiere on PBS.org, and on the PBS App beginning Tuesday, May 27, 2025, and will premiere Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS, wellbeings.org and on the PBS YouTube Channel.
The documentary will illuminate the lives of a diverse spectrum of caregivers, including those who care for adults living with debilitating diseases, as they navigate family relationships, the workplace and the economy. Award-winning actress Uzo Aduba (The Residence, Orange is the New Black) is the film’s narrator and brings her own experience as a caregiver for her mother to the project.
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The film, which examines the heavy toll caregiving exacts on physical health and mental well-being, interweaves personal narratives and interviews with experts such as Ai-jen Poo, president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and director of national advocacy group Caring Across Generations.
“Caregiving is such a critical topic, and everyone is touched by it. You’re either a caregiver or will be a caregiver in your lifetime,” said Tom Chiodo, one of the film’s executive producers.
“Our job is to raise awareness and educate, reduce stigma and discrimination and to change the national conversation. Caregivers are spiraling right now,” said Chiodo, of WETA, the public broadcasting station in Washington, D.C. The PBS station and Cooper’s Lea Pictures are producing the documentary.
Caregiving is increasingly part of a national conversation. The COVID-19 pandemic brought into the spotlight a group that had been overlooked — caregivers, who suddenly were “essential.” Black and brown women have a long legacy of providing care yet disproportionately face economic challenges they must endure to care for a loved one, including keeping low-wage jobs with minimal benefits.
As life expectancy increases, the number of older adults in the U.S. is poised to grow. More than 48 million family caregivers help older parents, spouses, grandparents and other loved ones so they can live independently. Caregivers perform daily tasks such as preparing meals, delivering medications and maintaining hygiene, accruing billions of hours of uncompensated care each year, according to AARP. Family caregivers also generate an estimated $600 billion worth of unpaid labor annually.
The PBS documentary is the latest in a growing cinematic canon centering caregivers. In recent years, the caregiving journey has been captured more on the big screen in high-profile documentaries such as “Unseen,” “Through the Night” and “The Eternal Memory,” nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary. It also includes the films “American Fiction” starring Jeffrey Wright, who received an Academy Award nomination for his performance and the Cooper-directed drama “Maestro,” in which he also plays the lead role. The film was nominated for multiple Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Caregiving strikes a personal chord for the filmmaking team. Chiodo was a caregiver for family members four times in his life. Cooper was a caregiver for his late father, Charles J. Cooper, who battled lung cancer. Growing up, Cooper idolized his father, wanting to dress up like him in a suit and tie. Watching his health decline was “traumatic,” Cooper recalled in the film’s trailer.
“Caregiving” is Cooper’s first project produced for PBS.
“When my father was diagnosed with cancer, that was a wake-up call for me, one that really opened my eyes to the world of caregiving,” Cooper said in a statement.
“Everyone will end up caring for a loved one at some point in their life. The level of loneliness can overcome an individual going through this – it’s overwhelming. Raising this conversation on a national level will help, and together, I believe we can make a difference. I’m extremely proud to produce this documentary. Together, we can help raise the banner for caregivers.”
Funders for the project include Evelyn Y. Davis Foundation, Care.com, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, The John A. Hartford Foundation and Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation. (Editor’s note: The Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation is a funder of the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative. It had no part in conceiving or writing this story.)
In addition to the documentary, the project will include a national and local campaign to educate people about the complex challenges caregivers face and create awareness of available resources and programs in their communities.
