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Films:
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More Time
1993, 90 min
Country: Zimbabwe
Studio: John & Louise Riber, Media for Development Trust
with support from NACP-Zimbabwe, NACP-Botswana, DANIDA, CIDA,
SIDA, CIDA-SAT, NORAD, Anglos-American Corporation Zimbabwe,
UNICEF, Redd Barna and MFDI
Director: Isaac Mabhikwa
Languages: French, English, Swahili, Luganda, Setswana, Runyankole
REVIEW: Thandi is only a teenager, ready for
anything and ripe for falling in love. She’s a girl flirting
with womanhood and the township beckons. But, she still has
to find out the dangers when David, the schoolboy Mister Charming,
coolly sweeps her off her feet. As her life spins out of control
and beyond her parents’ reach, Thandi has to learn that
playing with love may mean playing with her life. More Time
is the story of what happens to a township girl when she realizes
that falling in love is not so simple. The danger of love is
not just about unwanted pregnancies. In a time of AIDS, it is
about life itself. And that means changing the way teenagers
like Thandi think - and feel - about sex and sexuality. More
Time will appeal to teenagers, the "HIV-free generation,"
who face similar choices - and to parents who are afraid of
what the future holds for their children.
Awards: Best Film, Best Actress & Best
Editing, 1993 MNET, South Africa; Best Film, Best Actress &
OAU Best Acting, 1993 Southern Africa Film Festival, Zimbabwe;
Best Foreign Film, Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame 1994; Best
Teen Film, National Black Programming Consortium 1994; Best
Film, National Council on International Health 1994; Director's
award, Milan 1994; Jury International Professional Grand Prix,
14th International Festival of Young People, Laon, France, 1996
and Young Jury Award, Ecrans Jeunnes Festival, Reunion, 1996.
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Mother To
Child
2001, 44 min
Country: South Africa
Director: Jane Thandi Lipman
Language: Xhosa and Zulu with English subtitles
REVIEW: The prevention of mother-to-child transmission
of HIV - the statistics, the people - come vividly to life in
this astounding documentary, which follows the lives of two
pregnant and HIV-positive women lucky enough to be on a drug
trial at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. The
film charts the lives of Pinkie and Patience as they approach
the delivery of their babies. It reveals their exceptions, hopes,
and inevitable fears concerning not only the health of their
babies, but the trauma around the disclosure of their status
to their families and partners as well. |
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My Brother
Nikhil
2004, 120 min
Country: India
Studio: Four Front Films
Director: Onir
Languages: Hindi, English
REVIEW: This story unfolds itself in Goa between
the years 1987 to 1994. Nikhil Kapoor is the all round state
swimming champion of Goa. His father, Navin Kapoor has brought
him up to be a sportsman and is a proud father. His mother,
Anita Rosario Kapoor dotes on him and his elder sister, Anamika,
whom he calls Anu, is more of a friend to him. It is the picture
of a perfect happy family. Handsome, jovial and charming, he
is the idol of his peers and his friends love him. But all this
changes one fine morning. On August 8, 1989 Nikhil is arrested.
This film tells you the story of a man who suddenly falls from
grace and is socially ostracized. His parents, friends and colleagues
turn their backs on him. Suddenly, his whole world collapses.
This film is about how relationships redefine themselves in
times of crisis; About a father who is unable to face social
humiliation and abandons his son; About a son’s remorse
at being rejected by his parents and of his longing for their
love; About a sister who defies her parents and stands by her
brother. Overnight she takes over the role of the elder sister
who has to care for and protect her little brother. This film
portrays a sister’s unconditional love for her brother;
One other person stands by him during this difficult phase,
his friend Nigel de Costa. This film is about a relationship
that withstood social disapproval. Finally this is a film about
a man’s quest to achieve something in life… to be
happy and to be loved. |
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Ndodii
&
Big Balls
2001, 17 min
Country: Zimbabwe
Director: Farai Matambidzanwa and Heeten Bhagat
Language: English and Shona with English subtitles
REVIEW:
Ndodii (Farai Matambidzanwa, 13 minutes)
Ndodii is set in a remote village in Zimbabwe, the film depicts
the impact of HIV/AIDS on the traditional practice of wife inheritance.
Mai Tawanda, an HIV+ widow, is instructed by her elders to choose
a new husband. Faced with the reality of being ostracized and
blamed for her husband's death, she is challenged with the choice
of breaking tradition.
Big Balls (Heeten Bhagat, 4 minutes)
Two men are at work. One is black and the other white. They
are building something together. But there is tension. Their
conversation is raw, peppered with innuendo and tales of supposed
conquests. As they talk they spar with words. Words that mean
so little, but say so much. Funny yet devastatingly cruel. It
becomes clear that those conquests will ultimately be their
demise. |
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Night Stop
2002, 52 min
Country: Mozambique
Director: Licinio Azevedo
Language: Ndebele, Shona, Nhungwe, English, Portuguese with
English subtitles
REVIEW: In central Mozambique lies the Corridor
of Death, a long-distance trucking route, where more than 30%
of the population are HIV+. Shot mostly at night, the film charts
a series of interwoven stories about the lives of women who
wait for the arrival of truck drivers at an overnight trucking
station. Three groups of sex workers, the Calamities, the Students
and the Founding Members, vie for business, disappearing into
the drivers' trucks, which are cheaper than renting rooms. In
this world, even though condoms are distributed free by activists,
you can earn more by having unprotected sex. |
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Open Secret
2000, 36 min
Country: Uganda
Studio: Television for Development and Strategies for Hope with
support from ActionAid, CAFOD, Comic Relief, the European Union,
CORDAID, UNDP, UNICEF and WHO
Language: English
REVIEW: A video about people facing up to HIV
and AIDS in Uganda... Stigma and denial still hamper efforts
to respond to the HIV epidemic in many countries through out
the world. Uganda has achieved greater openness about HIV/AIDS
- and towards people living with HIV - than most other countries.
This has contributed to a steady decline in HIV prevalence in
Uganda since the mid-1990's. This video depicts how the Ugandan
people, civil society organizations, political leaders and government
agencies have breached the wall of silence surrounding the HIV
epidemic, reduced HIV-related stigma and denial, and so made
HIV/AIDS an "open secret." Much still remains to be
done in Uganda to cope with the impact of HIV and to curb its
further spread. What Uganda has achieved so far, however, gives
cause for hope in other countries struggling to cope with the
unprecedented challenges presented by the HIV epidemic. |
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Philadelphia
1993, 125 min
Country: United States of America
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Directors: Jonathan Demme
Language: English
REVIEW: Hanks won a Best Actor Oscar for his
performance as a high-powered gay lawyer at a prestigious Philadelphia
law firm who is stricken with AIDS. When his employers catch
wind of this, they sabotage his work and fire him on false pretense.
He retaliates with a lawsuit, soliciting a homophobic ambulance
chaser (Washington) to represent him. The first Hollywood film
about AIDS, Philadelphia delivers a strong emotional punch despite
suffering from some procedural flaws, including underdeveloped
relationships between characters. Additionally, the film's courtroom
scenes are lacking in the expected drama, primarily because
there is almost no doubt to the outcome. However, the result
is a very moving experience. |
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Phir Milenge
2004, 120 min
Country: India
Studio: Percept Picture Company
Director: Revathy
Languages: Hindi, English
REVIEW: Life could not be more hunky dory for
Tamanna, a buoyant girl with a promising career in advertising.
Her little world comprises of her office and her home where
she is like a guardian to her younger sister Tanya, who works
as a Radio Jockey.
At a reunion party of her school, Tamanna meets the person she
once had a crush on – Rohit (Salman), who was the best
guitarist in the school at that time. Rohit and Tamanna spend
some time together and are inevitably drawn towards each other.
The rush of intimacy between the two is so strong that they
forget the limits and make love without thinking about the consequences.
They separate with the promise to meet again. And for some time,
things begin to look normal once again for Tamanna. But her
perfect world begins to crumble after she is diagnosed with
an AIDS virus. She is shunned by her colleagues at work and
then is fired from the company. She decides to fight her case
in the court of law.
Spitfire lawyer Tarun (Abhishek) comes to her rescue. This is
not just another case for him. He completely identifies with
the cause Tamanna is fighting for. At the same time, he begins
to feel for Tamanna in a special way. No name could be given
to their relationship. Call it a bond of ‘humane and like-minded
people’. While Tamanna is fighting with the deadly disease,
several questions about Rohit haunt her. She wants to get in
touch with him to find the answers. Little does she know that
Rohit is battling a no less battle than her. |
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Shared Concern
2000, 34 min
Country: Ghana
Studio: Maurice Ocquaye for the Salvation Army, Ghana
Director: Abraham Laryea
Language: English
REVIEW: The UNAIDS and WHO estimate that 7
out of 10 people newly infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan
Afri a. Among children under 15, the proportion is 9 out of
10. Of all AIDS de ths since the epidemic started, 83% have
come from Afri Ghana, like its neighbo ing countries, has equally
not been able to escape the AIDS pandem c. The impact of AID
is deepening and getting worse indicating the need for action
now to prevent its further spr "Shared Concern" is
a docu-drama that looks at the state of the AIDS epidemic in
Ghana and challenges everyone to be actively involved in the
fight against HIV/AI S. It is our desir to encourage people
to offer care and support to the unfortunate persons living
with HIV/A "Shared Concern" is designed to initiate
discussions on AIDS, correct misconceptions and misinformation,
and also to break the stigma associated with the epidemic. |
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Shouting
Silent
2002, 50 min
Country: South Africa
Director: Renee Rosen and Xoliswa Sithole
Language: English
REVIEW: "Shouting Silent" explores
the South African HIV/AIDS epidemic through the eyes of Xoliswa
Sithole, an adult orphan who lost her mother to HIV/AIDS in
1996. Xoliswa journeys back home in search of other young
women who have also lost their mothers to HIV/AIDS and are
now struggling to raise themselves (and, in many cases, their
siblings) on their own. Sithole lyrically interweaves their
unsettling stories with highly stylized imagery to help convey
her own painful memories and document the grim statistics
of HIV infection in Africa. These testimonials powerfully
demonstrate how entire generations of young people are growing
up without their parents and chronicles the devastating impact
the AIDS pandemic is having on orphaned children in South
Africa. An arresting and timely piece, "Shouting Silent"
is also a cinematographic gem that artistically and meditatively
captures how these young women are quickly slipping through
the cracks of society.
“Cuts through the WHO reports and New York Times news
stories about the AIDS epidemic in Africa…absolutely
refutes the idea that AIDS is just an illness confined to
the body. It shows, with heart and compassion, that AIDS is
about families, their everyday lives, and the
bodies left behind after death.” Patricia R. Zimmerman,
Professor, Cinema Studies, Ithaca College
Awards: Washington DC Independent Film Festival, Grand Jury
Prize San Francisco Black Film Festival, 2nd Prize
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