Web-based medical-records provider Practice Fusion recently announced the winners of the Disposable Film Festival's inaugural Health competition at the company’s new headquarters in Union Square. Now, thanks to the wonders of the Internet, you can judge the honorees from the privacy of your living room.

Tasmanian filmmaker Adonis Pulatus, creator of the winning entry The Princess, used time-lapse video to capture the story of a woman suffering from a serious illness. Pulatus' film was honored for his standout work in creating an influential voice for the creative community in the healthcare industry.

"Raising awareness of patients and their stories has powerful and transformative potential," Pulatus says. "I wanted to participate in this opportunity to remind us of our shared humanity, strengthen and build the connections between people, and weave into the fabric of our culture the understanding that life and health matter."

Submissions from around the world were evaluated on the strength of their originality and their thought-provoking narratives about health-related themes including patient experience, wellness, medical providers and the current health-technology revolution. Judges included Practice Fusion CEO Ryan Howard, Disposable Film Festival co-founders Carlton Evans and Eric Slatkin, festival associate director Katie Gillum and award-winning editor and filmmaker Dalan McNabola.

Other finalists included second-place award winner João Monteiro's Size Zero, an animated short based on Drs. Luca Savorelli and Davide Dragone's paper "Thinness and Obesity: A Model of Food Consumption, Health Concerns and Social Pressure." Zero questions whether increasing the ideal body weight is socially desirable, both from a welfare and health point of view.

Third-place winner Immunize, created by Dr. Zubin Damania (a.k.a. ZDoggMD) and featuring Hayward's "mild-mannered" Dr. Harry Duh (and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo by the late Tupac Shakur), mixes humor and music to diffuse the controversy over vaccination, as leading Bay Area physicians sing about the dangers of pseudoscience and encourage public health.
 
“Connecting the creative community to the healthcare industry will deliver enormous benefits for physicians and patients," says Howard. "Our work with the Disposable Film Festival will accelerate that trend by giving artists a voice to raise awareness and educate the general public about important health issues.”