The Longest Wait: New Mexico’s Fight to Heal -Documentary
About the Film
New Mexico is losing doctors faster than any other state. One in three counties no longer has hospital‑based maternity care. Two‑thirds of the state’s doctors are considering leaving.
The Longest Wait follows the multi‑year fight to reverse this crisis. Through intimate stories of families who have suffered, doctors who stay against the odds, and policymakers who took on powerful interests, the film captures a pivotal moment in New Mexico’s history—and asks what it takes to heal a state.
The Filmmaker
Anton Sage is a New Mexico‑based documentary filmmaker. His work focuses on social justice, rural communities, and the intersection of policy and lived experience.
The film is produced by Anton Sage Studios LLC and supported by the New Mexico Film Foundation and the New Mexico Documentary Incubator Grant (NMDIG) .
Get Involved
We are currently in pre-production and invite you to be part of bringing this important story to the screen.
Share Your Story – If you have a connection to health care in New Mexico—as a patient, provider, or community member—we would love to hear from you.
Become a Sponsor – Your support helps us cover production costs, community screenings, and educational outreach. Sponsors receive credit in the film, recognition on our website, and invitations to special screenings.
Make a Donation – Every contribution, large or small, helps us tell this story with the depth and care it deserves. Donations are tax‑deductible through our fiscal sponsor.
Partner With Us – Foundations, health organizations, and community groups are invited to collaborate on outreach, screenings, and impact campaigns.
The Longest Wait: New Mexico’s Fight to Heal
Learn More | Sponsor | Volunteer
We are currently in pre‑production on The Longest Wait, a feature documentary about New Mexico’s health care worker shortage and the bipartisan fight to reverse it. Our goal is to tell this story with depth, integrity, and a deep commitment to the communities at its heart.
Learn More – Visit our website for updates, behind‑the‑scenes content, and information about upcoming screenings and events.
Become a Sponsor – Your support helps us cover production costs, archival licensing, and community engagement screenings. Sponsors receive credit in the film and invitations to exclusive previews.
Volunteer – We are looking for passionate individuals to help with research, outreach, and production assistance. Whether you have experience in documentary filmmaking or simply care about this story, there is a place for you.
For more information, please contact:
Anton Sage
(505)359-8850
The Longest Wait: New Mexico’s Fight to Heal
Supported by the New Mexico Film Foundation and the New Mexico Documentary Incubator Grant (NMDIG)
New Mexico is a place that has always invited storytelling. From the high deserts to the Rio Grande, from ancient pueblos to crowded emergency rooms, this state holds contradictions—beauty and struggle, isolation and community, deep tradition and urgent change. Documentaries set in New Mexico have the power to capture these tensions.
They reveal the resilience of rural communities, the dignity of those who stay when others leave, and the quiet fights that shape everyday life. To film here is to witness a place where the land is vast but the human stories are intimate, and where every face carries a history worth listening to.
50 Years Raíces: Half a Century of Sonic Resistance”
(Pre-Production)A feature documentary celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Raíces Collective at KUNM. In 1976, a small group of Chicano, Latino, and Nuevomexicano activists, artists, and broadcasters came together to create a space where their communities could hear themselves—in Spanish, in their own voices, telling their own stories. Half a century later, Raíces remains a vital force in New Mexico public radio KUNM , a living archive of the Chicano movement, and a testament to the power of community‑driven media. The film traces its evolution from a volunteer grassroots program to an institution that has shaped the cultural and political landscape of New Mexico
