Videos and Other Media: HIV and AIDS

A Luta Continua = The struggle continues (2001). Director: Jack Lewis

An HIV-positive group from Khaleyitscha, Cape Town make short films to show at public venues like taxi ranks and shopping malls in Cape Town's townships. They are present at these screenings, in which they strive to disclose their status, discuss HIV and AIDS issues, and clear up audience misconceptions about HIV and AIDS. Shows portions of the filming and the films themselves, interspersed with group members discussing their lives.

An Act of Faith: The Phelophepa Health Train (c2000). Director: Toni Strasburg

Part 4 of a series on how the globalized world economy affects ordinary people. A group of health professionals spends nine months or each year touring the poorest and most remote areas of South Africa. With a full contingent of volunteer doctors, dentists, optometrists and health educators on board, the "good clean health train" delivers quality health care to deprived rural communities.

Africa: Challenges in the 21st Century (c2004)

Explores Africa's history and to what degree its colonial legacy continues to impact the continent. Examines the causes, effects and possible solutions to major problems, such as hunger and diseases like HIV/AIDS, and controversial international trade policies that continue to contribute to Africa's underdevelopment.

AIDS and the Arts in Africa (c2001).

Shot on location in 1999 in Mali and South Africa, the video documents some of the work African popular artists are producing in the struggle against AIDS and showcases performing arts genres such as drama, dance, puppetry, and song. Mural and canvas painting are also highlighted.

The Ball (2001). Director: Orlando Mesquita

The ball tells the the story of Mozambican children who use condoms to make soccer balls. In a dramatization, a man confronts them and accuses them of stealing his condoms. This story illustrates that many people are not using condoms for safer sex, despite their availability.

Body and Soul (2001). Director: Melody Emmett

In South Africa millions of people are in desperate situations because of HIV and AIDS. This film looks at the attitudes of the three main religions (Christianity, Islam and African traditionalist) in South Africa through interviews with people who must interpret and practice religion in terms of the country's realities.

Born in Africa :Frontline, the AIDS Quarterly (1990)

A 37-year-old musician, Philly Lutaaya, has become the first prominent Ugandan to publicly acknowledge that he has AIDS. He wages a struggle to educate his countrymen about this disease.

Breaking the silence : stories from AIDS activists in Southern Africa (1996)

Through African women's eyes and words, we journey to the frontlines of the AIDS epidemic in Southern Africa. We witness the daily struggles and successes of AIDS activists as they work together. Breaking the Silence focuses on a Canadian sponsored development program that helps Africans help themselves with very promising results.

The Cost of Living (c2000). Director: Toni Strasburg

Part 14 of a series on how the globalized world economy affects ordinary people. This program examines why AIDS drugs are unaffordable in developing countries, using as examples Thailand and South Africa, two countries who have applied to use compulsory licenses and parallel importing -- practices agreed under World Trade Organization guidelines -- to make their own generic versions of anti-retroviral drugs to halt the AIDS epidemic in their countries. It also asks why anti-retroviral drugs still aren't included in the WTO's essential drugs lists.

Dreams of the Good Life (2001). Director: Bridget Pickering

In Dreams of the good life, five South African women talk about life, love and how their dreams for the future have changed since they have found out they are HIV positive. The women now examine their relationships with men more openly than ever before.

Duara: Sound the Drum (c2002). Director: Richard Ndunguru

In Duara, two young adults, who are in love, face the consequences of opening their intimate circle. This film addresses issues of health, sexuality, HIV-AIDS, education, and young people in Africa.
Sound the Drum, a documentary student production, chronicles the birth of the TeleDrum collaborative filmmaking program and the coming together of two different cultures to make the film Duara in Tanzania, East Africa.

Forgotten Children: The Legacy of Poverty and AIDS in Africa (c2001). Director: Donna Woolf

A documentary on the lives of children orphaned by AIDS and left to fend for themselves on the streets of Zambia.

Guilty (2001). Director: Siyabonga Makhatini

Guilty dramatizes the HIV-related issues of blame, trust, and guilt, examining preconceptions concerning high-risk groups and how these assumptions not only lead to denial but can further stigmatize HIV. Starts with one HIV-positive couple and follows an ever-widening path of sexual encounters until the question of responsibility becomes blurred.

Heavy Traffic (2001). Director: Kgomotso Matsunyane

The increasing number of deaths attributed to AIDS has affected many areas of life in Soweto, South Africa. This documentary examines the impact of these deaths upon the funeral industry of South Africa.

Ho Ea Rona (2001). Director: Dumisani Phakathi

Ho Ea Rona is about three friends who meet and reminisce about the past. Thabiso was a national boxer; Thabo, known to his friends as Kwasa Kwasa, is a disc jockey at a local radio station; Bimbo is an intellectual and a man of short sentences. All three are HIV- positive. They reflect on their lives, cry, express regret, but also laugh.

Itís My Life (c2001). Director: Brian Tilley

Zackie Achmat is an AIDS activist who refuses to take anti-retrovirals until they are available in public hospitals and clinics. He leads the court battle against the multi- national drug companies and takes on the South African government for it's confusing policies around HIV/AIDS. As a leader in the campaign for affordable treatment, Zackie's provocative position is not one all his friends and colleagues support.

Let's Talk About It (2001). Director: Sithunyiwe Gece

Let's talk about it examines the attitudes of young people in Cape Town towards HIV and AIDS, and the challenges they face in practicing safer sex. Dispel your attitudes follows Philiswa, and HIV-positive activist, who discusses the virus during a crowded taxi ride to meet a man who is afraid to disclose his HIV-positive status. She meets the man and they discuss his fears.

Looking for Busi (2001). Director: Robyn Hofmeyr

This is the story of a fifteen-year old South African girl, Busi, who is an HIV-positive mother. Busi's mother abandoned her when Busi becomes pregnant, even before testing positive for AIDS. Busi is chosen for a mother-to-child drug trial and to be the subject of a documentary. After the documentary airs and exposes that she is HIV-positive, Busi disappears, and the filmmaker and her friend search for her.

Love in a Time of Sickness (2001). Director: Khalo Matabane

Khalo Matabane tells friends at dinner about meeting a woman he felt attracted to, then breaking off with her after she disclosed her HIV-positive status. Intercut with Khalo's thoughts about his own protected past and his attitudes to gender roles.

A Miner's Tale (2001). Directors: Nicholass Hofmeyr & Gabriel Mondlane

Joaquim is a migrant laborer with a junior wife in urban South Africa and a senior wife and family in rural Mozambique. He is torn between his responsibilities for both. He is also torn between his understanding of his HIV infection when visiting his home village after being absent for four years and what traditional society expects of him. Joaquim must make a choice since the elders are adamant that it is his traditional duty to father more children with his wife, but Joachim does not want to infect her.

The Moment (2001). Director: Siyabonga Makhatini

The moment features men and women from different backgrounds who share their most personal thoughts about courtship and sexual behavior. They discuss the six stages of seduction: the moment you meet, the moment you connect, the moment you seduce, the moment you kiss, the moment you take your clothes off, and the moment before penetration. A caption asks us: at which moment do you decide to use a condom?

The Odds Against Us--but Thereís Hope (c2002). Directors: Richard Quinn, & Martin Kivuva

People are responding to AIDS pandemic and one such person is Dr. Margaret Ogola, a pediatrician by profession. Presently she is the administrator and co-ordinator of Catholic health services throughout the country. She says that the church offers about 40% of all health care in Kenya and ministers to the poorest of the poor AIDS patients. Since 1994 she has served as medical director of Cottolengo, a hospice for children with AIDS. Through her extensive readings on the AIDS pandemic and her eight years of clinical practice with AIDS orphans, she is a recognized authority on this subject. In this video, Dr. Ogola gives the most thorough and comprehensive explanation of AIDS in Africa.

Patient Abuse: South Africaís Struggle for AIDS Treatment (c2001). Director: Jack Lewis

The film presents the early missteps by the South African government health officials concerning AIDS. Film follows the controversial statements made by current President Thabo Mbeki which advance doubts that HIV is the cause of AIDS. Treatment Action Campaign challenges pharmaceutical companies for charging high prices for AIDS drugs. Efforts of Zackie Achmat highlighted.

Patience and Pinkie: Mother to Child (c2001). Director: Jane Thandi Lipman

Follows the lives of two pregnant and HIV-positive women fortunate enough to be on a drug trial at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. The film charts the lives of Kholiwe (Patience) and Ntombekaya (Pinkie), who have made friends at the clinic's support group for HIV-positive mothers as they approach the delivery of their babies. It is about their expectations, 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. It is also about the commitment of the people at the HIV perinatal clinic.

A Red Ribbon Around My House (2001). Director: Portia Rankoane

A mother and daughter are in crisis because of their different responses to AIDS. The mother, Pinky, is flamboyant and open about the fact that she is HIV-positive. The daughter, Ntombi, battles to be just like everyone else. Her mother's refusal to be passive in the face of AIDS sets them both apart.

Shouting Silent (c2002). Director: Renee Rosen

Xoliswa Sithol, an adult orphan who lost her mother to AIDS in 1996, explores the devastation wrought on the orphaned children of South Africa by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Simon & I (2001). Directors: Bev Palesa Ditsie, & Nicky Newman

"Simon and I recounts the lives of two giants in the South African gay and lesbian liberation movement, Simon Nkoli and the filmmaker herself, Bev Ditsie. The story is narrated by Bev, both as a personal statement and a political history. ... their relationship is viewed against a backdrop of intense political activism and the HIV/AIDS crisis"-- Container

Speaking Out: Women, AIDS and Hope (2002). Director: Joanne Burke

Profiles a remarkable HIV and AIDS support project in Bamako, Mali, and three brave women who work tirelessly on behalf of the infected community.

State of Denial (c2003). Director: Elaine Epstein

South Africa is the country with the highest number of HIV+ people in the world. This video puts a human face on the millions affected by introducing six South Africans involved with the AIDS epidemic. It shows how they must fight not only the disease but the greed of the drug cartels and the incomprehensible inactivity of their own government to get treatment.

Tsoga (2001). Director: Sechaba Ramotoai

Tsoga presents the story about a community confronting a terrible dilemma after 70% of the students of a highly productive community school test positive for HIV. Joyce, who has been positive since she was raped as a school girl seven years ago, talks about discrimination at schools which leads to students dropping out.

Tusamehe (2005). Director: Josiah Kibira

A story of a successful African immigrant named Bilantanya and his near-perfect marriage to his "African queen" Salome slowly morphs into an eye-opening illustration of the harsh realities of living with AIDS when Bilantanya unknowingly infects his wife (and perhaps their unborn child) with the HIV virus.

Waín Wina = Sincerely yours (2001). Director: Dumisani Phakathi

Filmmaker Dumisani Phakathi returns to his old neighborhood in Phiri, Soweto and engages with friends to discuss relationships, sex, love, and AIDS. They talk intimately about the realities of the street and choices they have been forced to make. Reveals the gaps between everyday life and the AIDS campaigns that often talk past the very people they are supposed to address.