PHM-Exch> PHA3 Documentary Film Festival

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Anneleen De Keukelaere <anneleen at phmovement.org>
*
Award-winning films to headline Africa’s first global access to health
conference*

*Cape Town, South Africa (DATE)* – People’s Health Assembly today announced
the selection of nine acclaimed documentary films to screen in the 2012
Global Access to Health Film Festival, July 6-10 at University Western Cape
in Bellville, Cape Town.

This year’s addition of film at the landmark health event marks the
beginning of an important partnership between Southern Africa’s only human
rights dedicated film festival, Tri-Continental Film Festival (TCFF), and
the People’s Health Movement. It is the first time the conference, expected
to draw over 1000 health professionals from around the globe, will be held
in Africa.

The Access to Health Film Festival will showcase stories of community-led
health triumphs, with African stories dominating the film selection.
Adapted from the annual Tri Continental Film Festival, this five-day
festival will feature two screenings a day with post film discussion, often
director-led.



Opening the festival is the stunning South African made film, Thembi,
winner jury award at 2011 One World International Human Rights Documentary
Festival, directed and produced by Cape Town-Based duo Jo Menell and
Richard Mills.



Effervescent, beautiful and brave, Thembi Ngubane sprang to fame after
releasing a 30-minute audio documentary about a year in the life of a South
African teenager living with HIV. For more than a year, Thembi carried a
tape recorder and kept an audio diary of her struggle to live with HIV,
capturing the moments of her life that "help tell a larger story."



The film was described in a BBC review as a not to be missed “tribute to
courage.” Both Mills and Menell will be in attendance. Thembi will screen
at 20:00h, Friday 6 July.



Also shining a light South African health and being screened with its
director, is TAC – Taking HAART. Directed by Jack Lewis, it is a powerful
investigate film that delves into the AIDS denialism years during President
Thabo Mbeki’s leadership. The film contains never before seen footage of
one of the most extraordinary struggles in post-apartheid South Africa. TAC
–Taking HAART will screen at 17:00h, Saturday 7 July.



Rehad Desai, director of TCFF, said: “The partnership between the TCFF and
the People’s Health Assembly is an important coming together of relevant
and intersecting expertise. We know that good film can be a powerful
vehicle for positive social chance.”



The TCFF celebrates its 10 anniversary in 2012 and since its inception has
screened more than 500 documentary films from over 61 countries.

For more information about People’s Health Movement visit*
http://www.phmovement.org/*

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*BRIEFS OF THE DOCUMENTARIES*



*1.      **Thembi           6 July, 20h @S1*



'Thembi' - Effervescent, beautiful, confident, brave, eloquent and
ambitious, Thembi epitomises the youth of South Africa. Tragically, in more
ways than one, Thembi came to fame through her audio diary for the US’
National Public Radio. It documented her daily life in Khayelitsha and the
physical, social and emotional struggle of living with HIV.  Despite her
boundless energy and herculean courage, this gentle and incisive
documentary shows that Thembi is all too human.



*Melikhaya Mpumela, Thembi's partner, will be in attendance along with the
filmmakers Jo Menell and Richard Mills.*



*2.      **TAC: Taking Haart              7 July, 17h @S1*



Taking HAART provides a fly on the wall view of how outrage ignited a
movement that united people across race and class, one that developed a
well educated cadre deeply versed in the issues it confronted, built
coalitions, used the courts, peaceful protest and civil disobedience to
achieve its objectives. Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) plays a critical
role in showing how the bill of rights entrenched in the South African
constitution can be used to win social and economic rights and to change
government policy. It is through this mass movement that the right to
universal access to treatment was won.



*Jack Lewis who produced the movie and is part of Treatment Action
Campaign, will be at the screening to guide discuss the theme of the
documentary afterwards. *

* *



*3.      **Healers           7 July, 20h @S1*



This is the feel-good story of how a doctor and a matron at a rural South
African hospital started a ground-breaking scholarship programme to enable
local youth to qualify as healthcare professionals. When Dr Andrew Ross and
Elda Nsimbini were faced with the crisis of losing five doctors, they
established a mentorship programme that identified the best students in the
district. Years on, they are reaping the fruits of their efforts. Rather
than the usual sad tale of neglect and deterioration, Barry’s film offers a
realistic solution – local people for local problems – that pioneers a path
many rural hospitals should follow.





*4.      **Bushman’s Secret      8 July, 14.30h 2S1*



When South African filmmaker Rehad Desai travels to the Kalahari to
investigate global interest in ancient Bushmen knowledge, he meets Jan van
der Westhuizen, a fascinating Khomani San traditional healer.  One plant
could make all the difference. Hoodia, a cactus used by Bushmen for
centuries, has caught the attention of a giant pharmaceutical company. It
now stands to decide the fate of the Khomani San.

Traditional healer will be attending the discussion following the showing.





*5.      **Street Talk session     8 July, 17h @S1*



Street talk l show 4 times a 15 minute Street Talk and then have a 15
minute Q&A where a participant from each film will be in attendance to
answer any questions.



·         Tik, the devil within - In Cape Town, South Africa, crystal
methamphetamine use has exploded, known locally as “tik,” the drug was
virtually unknown as late as 2003. Tik is usually smoked, using a straw in
a light bulb. An assortment of tik addicts from Delft tell us how they fund
their drug addiction and what it is like to be an addict. (Season 3 Episode
24)

   - Disabled - A group of disabled men and women tell us how it feels to
   be disabled in South Africa, the challenges they face and how they rise
   above the prejudice. (Season 1 Episode 39)
   - Role Models - Students from Langa High School speak of cultural
   alienation and the lack of role models in their communities. (Season 1
   Episode 17)
   - State Hospitals - A group of doctors talk about the enormity of the
   challenges they face as practitioners in state hospitals and the risks they
   face on a daily basis. (Season 1 Episode 43)



* *

*6.      **Difficult Love                        8 July, 20h @S1*



Difficult Love is a personal portrait of Zanele Muholi, the photographer
involved in the controversy in August 2009 in which the Minister of Arts
and Culture, Lulu Xingwana walked out of an exhibition featuring her work,
claiming it was ‘immoral and offensive’. This film is an account of
Muholi’s experience as a black lesbian growing up in the Durban township,
Umlazi, covering her relationship with her mother who passed away.



*Zanele Muholi, producer and subject of the documentary will be attending
the screening for dialogue and discussion afterwards.*



*7.      **Dawn of a New Day (West Africa)  9 July, 17h @S1*



Dawn Of a New Day (West Africa) - A powerful documentary that profiles the
Mercy Ship docked off coast of Benin by following a volunteer surgeon and
five patients. Through these six characters it shines a bright light on
severe access to health issues confronting West Africans and the dire role
this ship plays.



*PHA3 speaker will be guiding discussion.*





*8.      **Congo in Four Parts 20H  9 July, 17h @S1*



A quartet of powerful short films that examines social issues in an
impoverished African nation, *Congo in Four Acts* is an eye-opening exposé
that lays bare the reality of everyday life in the Democratic Republic of
Congo. Initiated as an educational project to help young filmmakers develop
their craft, the end result is an unpolished vérité gem, with an engaging
consistency linking the films together. *Ladies in Waiting* channels
Frederick Wiseman as it chronicles the bureaucratic dysfunctions of a
Kinshasa maternity ward. *Symphony* takes us on a staggering tour of the
Kinshasa slums. *Zero Tolerance* is a searing snapshot of sexual violence
in east DRC. *Mine* is a heart-rending examination of a polluted settlement
where young children earn meagre wages by breaking rocks. *Congo in Four
Acts* is a fine example of the socio-political advocacy art that can result
from putting documentary tools into the hands of local citizens



*Speaker of DRC will be attending the discussion following the showing.*



*9.      **Egypt, insights into a revolution      10 July, 14.30h @S1*



Two months after the fall of Mubarak regime, bloggers, activists, artists,
opinion leaders or simple citizens revisit their Egyptian revolution. How
did they feel during the eighteen days of protests who eventually forces
Mubarak to abdicate on February 11, 2011 after som thirty years of
autocratic presidency? How did the revolution change their lives? What are
their hopes and fears whereas Egypt is slowly moving towards democracy.



*Sebastien Sauges who produced the documentary will be present at the
screening to guide and discuss the theme of the documentary afterwards.*

* *
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