Ask filmmaker Andrew Jenks why he thinks there’s so little media coverage of HIV/AIDS and he’ll tell you straight up that the virus “has a PR problem.” What’s more, Jenks feels that “guys like Magic Johnson are a double-edged sword” because people see him living healthy with the virus and believe HIV is all figured out. In addition, shame and stigma are still attached to acquiring the virus.
These are the reasons Jenks partnered with the MAC AIDS Fund to make an as-yet-untitled documentary. He wanted to show the personal stories of three young people affected by HIV/AIDS to give viewers a better understanding of what’s at stake if we let the matter rest where it currently lies.
The three young adults Jenks profiles are an American college girl, age 19, who was born with HIV; an HIV-negative man, age 27, who feeds kids the HIV basics in a poverty-stricken South Africa township; and a 35-year-old, HIV-positive man who lives in Mumbai, the city formerly known as Bombay, in India.
While in Mumbai and walking down Falkland Road, Jenks encountered an unexpected plot twist in today’s HIV tale. He saw little 13-year-old girls selling sex. Later, he visited an orphanage and met HIV-positive kids who were born into sex slavery. “I really wasn’t expecting it,” Jenks says. “Sex slavery is something that needs to be solved in order to eradicate HIV.”
Still Misunderstood
A new documentary takes a look at today’s HIV stories.
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