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Films:
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Side By
Side: Women Against AIDS In Zimbabwe
1992, 47 min
Country: Zimbabwe
Studio: Villon Films-Harvey McKinnon in co-production with CIDA
Director: Peter Davis
Language: English
REVIEW: Women of Africa: wives, mothers, laborers,
nurturers. Now, in the wake of the IDS pandemic women also serve
as care-givers to family and community members affllicted with
HIV or AIDS. In the fight against AIDS, Zimbabwean women stand
side by ide mobilizing communities, educating people, and empowering
women. Side by Side: Women Against AIDS in Zimbabwe follows
two women - a social worker, and a theatre director/magazine
editor - as each uses her skills to overcome the effects of
AIDS. This documentary is a positive message of self-help and
determination.
Awards: 1995 Jury Prize for Best Film on Medical
Information at the International Festival of Films on Health,
Mauriac, France.
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Simon &
I
2001, 52 min
Country: South Africa
Director: Beverley Palesa Ditsie and Nicky Newman
Language: Tswana and English with English subtitles
REVIEW: "Simon & I" is an intimate
and inspiring portrait of black South African gay rights activist
Simon Nkoli, who died of AIDS in 1998, and his fellow activist
and protégé, Bev Ditsie. Chronicling two remarkable
decades of activism, their story charts the history of the gay
and lesbian liberation movement in South Africa and presents
a personal account of the devastating AIDS epidemic in Africa.
Bev unfolds their unique relationship using a mixed format of
interviews, archival images and newspaper clips, while speaking
honestly about the challenges they faced and the difficult issue
of sexism within the gay rights movement. Their hard work and
unyielding determination moved South Africa to become the only
country in the world to include sexual orientation in its constitutional
Bill of Rights. An homage to a great figure in the gay and lesbian
rights movement, "Simon & I" is equally a tribute
to an enduring friendship and bond between two remarkable leaders.
“…an honest and revealing account, one that will
speak volumes to anyone from countries where even the leaders,
charged with protecting their citizens, unashamedly leave the
door open for gay bashing.”
San Francisco Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
“This wonderfully crafted film recounts the work and friendship
of two groundbreaking AIDS activists…[and] expresses the
sacrifice and dedication required to create change in an unchanging
government.” Chicago Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
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Speaking
Out: Women, AIDS, and Hope In Mali
2002, 55 min
Country: Mali
Director: Joanne Burke
Languages: French, English
REVIEW: The fourth installment of Joanne Burke’s
critically acclaimed "New Directions" series on women's
empowerment in developing countries, "Speaking Out"
presents a compelling case study on the impact of AIDS on women
from Mali and the devastating effects the epidemic is having
in Africa today. This critically acclaimed documentary profiles
a remarkable HIV and AIDS support project in Bamako, Mali, sponsored
by The Center for Care, Activity and Council for People Living
with HIV (CESAC), and three brave women who tirelessly work
on behalf of the infected community. Risking social ostracism
and family rejection, Aminita, Oumou and Aissata are among a
small group who dare to speak publicly about their HIV+ status.
They help others with HIV, particularly women, by joining AFAS,
the women's association for the support of widows and children
of AIDS. Through their advocacy work they hope to demonstrate
to the Mali government the desperate need for a more pro-active
HIV and AIDS strategy. With the help of CESAC, these inspiring
women are proving that an HIV+ diagnosis is not the end of life,
but the start of a positive future for all African men and women.
"…a rare and unparalleled teaching tool for courses
in anthropology, international public health, women's studies,
international affairs, and the medical humanities."
Susan L. Erikson
Global Health Affairs Program, University of Denver |
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State of
Denial
2003, 83 min
Country: South Africa / United States of America
Studio: Lovett Productions
Directors: Elaine Epstein
Language: English
REVIEW: State of Denial takes an unprecedented
and unflinching look at how the citizens of South Africa are
living with the AIDS epidemic, given the climate of confusion
and neglect perpetuated by President Mbeki's administration.
Producer/Director Elaine Epstein, a native South African who
has worked extensively in AIDS and public health, offers a unique
insider's look at the complex issues affecting the nearly five
million South Africans living with HIV and AIDS. The film offers
a moving account of a society struggling to overcome the harsh
realities of illness, global healthcare inequities, and government
paralysis.
Intimate conversations capture the unbreakable spirit of a people
determined to conduct their lives with dignity, grace, and humor.
As one man contemplates death, he pleads that God should spare
his wife so that his children will not be orphaned. In another
exchange, a young woman elicits laughter from her HIV/AIDS support
group as she recounts how she was abandoned by a date after
revealing she is HIV positive. To provide context to these personal
stories, Epstein also secures candid, in-depth interviews with
some of the country's most notable politicians, health care
professionals, and activists‹some of whom are her former
colleagues.
Informative and thoughtful, State of Denial is a compelling
documentary that highlights the complicated circumstances exacerbating
a national health crisis. With images of pain, outrage, defiance,
and hope, the film is an insightful investigation of humanity
persevering in the face of unimaginable atrocity.
Awards: Official Selection 2003 Sundance Film festival |
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That’s
Me
&
Choose Life
2001, 11 min
Country: Mozambique / Zimbabwe
Director: Sasha Wales-Smith and Dorothy Brislin Ntone
Language: English and Xitswa with English subtitles
REVIEW:
That's Me (Sasha Wales-Smith,
7 minutes, Zimbabwe)
In Zimbabwe President Mugabe has said that gay people are "worse
than pigs or dogs". To be HIV positive on top of that is
even more shameful in the eyes of society. Acceptance is the
theme of this inspiring film about a young drag queen. Life
with HIV can still be celebrated, he tells us, as long as you
acknowledge sexuality and love the virus.
Choose
Life (Dorothy Brislin Ntone, 4 minutes, Mozambique)
In this exuberant music video Kapa Dech , one of the best-known
Mozambican bands, uses the funeral of a young man who has died
of AIDS to get across their message of hope. Dressed in white,
the dead man rises from the grave and tells the survivors that
while they should certainly cherish and enjoy life, they also
need to act responsibly in the face of the HIV/AIDS crisis. |
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The Ball
&
The Sky In Her Eyes
2001, 16 min
Country: Mozambique / South Africa
Director: Orlando Mesquita, Ouida Smit and Madoda Ncayiyana
Language: Ximanica and Zulu with English subtitles
REVIEW:
The Ball (Orlando Mesquita, 5 minutes, Mozambique)
Somewhere on a dusty soccer field in Mozambique, a group of
boys are playing a game of soccer. Suddenly a man runs onto
the field shouting. He stops the game and accuses the boys of
stealing his condoms. There are different ways to use condoms.
In Mozambique, young boys are great consumers of them, turning
them into soccer balls.
The Sky in Her Eyes (Ouida Smit and Madoda
Ncayiyana, 11 minutes, South Africa)
Set in rural KwaZulu Natal, this poignant short film shows a
young girl struggling to cope with her grief and confusion after
losing her mother to AIDS. When a boy allows her to attach a
picture she has drawn of her mother to his kite, this act of
friendship and the shared joy of flying a kite together make
the girl smile again.
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The Bushfire
2001, 60 min
Country: Kenya
Studio: Worldview-Kenya with support from the Ford Foundation
Director: Stephen Makau
Language: English
REVIEW: Nadi, a young innocent high school
girl rises to great heights of academic excellence. She bags
many awards that range from academic to cleanliness. Her success
attracts admiration from all who love excellence. Nadi is the
only hope for her poor parents. She is determined to realise
her greatest ambition in life – a pilot. The journey towards
achieving her goal is soon made impossible when Tabu –
a rich, academically poor classmate with many sexual partners
and lust for money and fun, makes friends with her. Tabu contracts
HIV from the school Pastor and spreads it to her boyfriends.
Two sugar daddies Jack and Ben in collaboration with Tabu trick
Nadi into believing that she is going to watch a play, Romeo
and Juliet. A fake engine problem develops during the journey
to the theatre. Nadi finds herself in a night club, drugged
and raped. A year later, she tests HIV positive – a discovery
that leaves her traumatized and seeking support from People
Living with AIDS. Feelings of loss abound and she is moved to
share with fellow students her sad story. Nonetheless she is
determined to realize her ambition. The video, focuses on the
fast indiscriminate spread of HIV/AIDS, negative peer pressure
among the youth, the role of parents, safety measures and support
systems, the need for behavioral change and extra care by all
young and old, professionals or otherwise with greater emphasis
on the youth. |
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The Faces
Of AIDS
1992, 20 min
Country: Cameroon and Zimbabwe
Studio: Family Health International with support from USAID
Director: Frances Reid
Languages: French, English, Swahili
REVIEW: The Faces of AIDS tells the story of
the human experience of living with AIDS in Africa. People with
HIV and AIDS, their husbands and wives, their families, doctors
and health workers talk about how AIDS has affected their lives.
The people in this video are real people from Cameroon and Zimbabwe
with the courage to speak out about their experience. These
are stories of fear and hope, of the struggle against pain and
abandonment, and the fight for greater awareness and understanding
about the disease. The Faces of AIDS challenges stereotypes
and asks questions about the need for African solidarity to
fight the epidemic.
Awards: 1993 British Medical Association; 1993
Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. |
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The Orphan
Generation
1992, 50 min
Country: Uganda
Producers: Small World Productions with ActionAid Uganda, the
Overseas Development Administration (UK), UCOBAC (Uganda), UNICEF
and the World Health Organization.
Languages: French, English, Swahili
REVIEW: By the year 2000, 10 to 15 million
children worldwide will have lost one or both parents through
AIDS. Most of these AIDS orphans will be in sub-Saharan Africa.
Uganda is one of many African countries where a generation of
orphans is growing up without parental guidance or support,
and faced with a legacy of hunger, poverty and grief. The Orhan
Generation focuses on the struggle of one Ugandan village to
cope with the deepening orphan crises. Local development and
social workers explain how the needs of these children can be
met and their rights protected by support for community-based
organizatons rather than institutional care. The video includes
a 10-minute program called These Are Our Children, a powerful
appeal to political leaders, planners and aid donors to support
local communities in meeting the basic needs of AIDS orphans.
It can also be used as a general introduction to the AIDS orphans
issue. |
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The Silent
Killer: AIDS In South Africa
2000, 52 min
Country: Canada
Director: Marika Griesel
Language: English
REVIEW: South Africa is hard hit by the HIV
epidemic, which is infecting more than 1500 people per day.
At Johannesburg's biggest hospitals, forty to fifty percent
of the beds are occupied by patients with AIDS-related infections
It is estimated that one fourth of the population will be affected
soon.
The history of social and economic division that still continues
in South Africa is reflected in the way the disease has spread.
Poor black women in the townships get only inferior mixtures
of AZT to prevent their babies from being born infected. They
do not get the information necessary to prevent infection. The
disease is not confined to the poor, for affluent whites are
also affected by HIV. We hear from patients, social workers,
medical experts and government policy makers on the magnitude
of the problem.
"The face of the disease is brought to the human level..."
Science Books & Films |
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