Wednesday, December 1, 2010

NEWS: World AIDS Day 2010

Judith Light: I had to get involved
"The moment it all gelled for me was when I was filming The Ryan White Story and I heard Ryan being interviewed on the set. The woman interviewing him asked him what it was like for him when people found out he had AIDS and he said, 'Well, it was pretty hard. People were really mean to me. They would spit at me sometimes and call me a faggot.' I stood there listening to him and I had an epiphany. I said to myself, 'That is everything right there in that statement. That is Ryan. And that is my friends. And that is my family. And that is this country.'

"And I knew in that moment that I had to get involved and start talking about it all and this was the way I could use my fame for something other than just myself. At that time, very few people were out there talking about it. I got lots and lots of letters from people telling me they would never watch me again in anything because I was making the Ryan White movie. And I thought, you know what? Great! Good riddance. So in a way that was my coming out."

Damon L. Jacobs: Why I Do It
"I first heard about these studies four years ago. At that time I noticed I was no longer seeing HIV presented in the media as a crisis. However, people I knew were still being infected, friends were still getting ill, my clients were still struggling, and families and loved ones were still suffering. I felt frustrated that 25 years into this epidemic we didn't seem any closer to seeing the end of it, and that the younger generation appeared dangerously oblivious to the risks of contracting this disease."

MTV launches Me, Myself and HIV film on AIDS day
The music channel is airing an hour-long television documentary which follows the lives of 25-year-old U.S. college student Angelikah and 21-year-old aspiring musician Slim from Zambia. Both are living with HIV.

Stephanie Gatschet: Never forget
"Let's never forget those affected!"

Population Media Center continues to produce radio and TV dramas with a message
Population Media Center, a nonprofit with an annual budget of about $4 million, aims to improve global well-being by sponsoring radio and TV serial dramas sprinkled with character role models who nudge audiences toward what the center calls “positive behavior change.” That change might come in the form of support for people with disabilities (Mali), or family planning (Nigeria), or HIV/AIDS prevention (Vietnam), or in the case of SIBRAT, opposition to female genital mutilation/cutting, sometimes called female circumcision.

The Kids Are All Right scores five Independent Spirit nominations
Winter's Bone and The Kids Are All Right led a very mainstream batch of Film Independent Spirit Award nominations with seven and five nods. Julianne Moore was not nominated for her brilliant Kids performance.

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