I’m very excited to be a part of the distribution efforts for Pureland’s timely film All of Us and the community we are building around it. Now that the film is finally completed and people are starting to see it and talk about it, its relevance becomes clear in this pre-election year.
Having lived and worked in Uganda for many years, I am familiar with a nation facing a devastating HIV/AIDS crisis. In the mid-90s, when the epidemic was at its peak, I went to far too many funerals. No family was spared, HIV/AIDS was everywhere. But Uganda was one of the first African countries to come forth and tell the world about its alarming infection rate. The AIDS pandemic in Uganda quickly took center stage on the international scene and paired with an aggressive national grassroots awareness campaign and the assistance of the international community, within a few years Uganda became one of the first African countries to lower its rate of infection. During my years there I also realized how sexist and racist this disease could be: in Uganda, women bear the brunt of the diseases primarily due to their power differential with men. However, I never imagined that I would be faced with this reality again upon my return to North America… The big difference is that this time, no one seems to want to hear about it!
This is why this film is so important to me, as it brings people together, from all walks of life, to talk about sex, their bodies and the HIV/AIDS crisis now facing the nation that is not being acknowledged or adequately addressed.All of Us brings us to ask why this situation is not being talked about and forces us to take it upon ourselves to do something about it.
When I attended the recent Women and HIV Prevention Conference at the Borough of Manhattan Community College on March 13th, I realized how much professionals and activists working in the field of HIV/AIDS desire to have the issue of African American Women and HIV/AIDS covered in the media and how difficult it is to do so.
As I exchanged, shared and debated with my discussion group about the issue of black women’s representation in the media, there was a real sense that women of color want to re-appropriate control over their body and its representation. I believe that All of Us is one of the few films at the moment that not only addresses the issue of HIV/AIDS amongst women of color, but also talks to us, not only women of color but to all of about what we need to do to change the situation.
From the reactions All of Us got at the Cleveland film festival where both screenings were sold out and the audience was clamoring to get copies of the film, to the comments from the women at Housing Works’ new Women’s Health Center and the reaction of a male executive at a National Organization (visit our endorsements page to see what's been said so far) it becomes clear that there is a real urgency to get the film out there. That All of Us does something that hasn’t yet been done. Not only does it make us relate to the issue but it also makes us want to take action.
--Ssanyu Kalibbala, Outreach Coordinator for All of Us
