November 29th - December 4th, 2006

The New York AIDS Film Festival, now in its fourth year, is a five-day series of HIV- and AIDS-related film screenings, panel discussions, and special events. The festival takes place each year during the first week of December (World AIDS Week). The 2006 festival will also serve to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the first diagnosed case of AIDS.

The NYAFF mission is to utilize visual media to prompt social action in the fight against the global AIDS pandemic. Each year, the New York AIDS Film Festival showcases works, (including short films, documentaries, feature films and Public Service Announcements), which educate and awaken us to the realities of the HIV/AIDS virus. We are happy to announce that this year’s festival will again be sponsored by New York University, where all of our competing films will be screened free to the public; special screenings and panel events will also be held at the United Nations, thanks to the wonderful sponsorship and support of UNAIDS.

On December 1st, The New York AIDS Festival will host an Opening Night Red Ball Gala at the New York Public Library. Hosted by Alexandra and Vanessa Kerry, the Gala will honor the efforts of noted HIV/AIDS activists, advocates and decision-makers, including:

UN AIDS – Honoring the Work of the UN in the fight against AIDS

Sarah Ferguson,Duchess of York

MTV International President Bill Roedy

Supermodel and AIDS Activist Maggie Rizer









This year’s festival will also be the focus of an upcoming documentary, “MAGGIE & ME”,



New York AIDS Film Festival 2006 Schedule of Events:



Nov. 29th: Opening Night Film “3 Needles”, at United Nations, UNICEF ambassador Lucy Liu in attendance, along with director Thom Fitzgerald and other stars of the film. (closed)

Dec. 1: Opening Night Red Ball Gala, New York Public Library (Bryant Park), 7pm-midnight

Dec. 2 & 3: Screenings and panels at NYU

Dec. 3: Festival Awards Ceremony at NYU

Dec. 4: “MAGGIE & ME” sneak preview/UN briefing at United Nations

Dec. 4: Special Closing Day screenings and panels at the United Nations


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NYAFF Supporters include: UNAIDS, New York University, MAC AIDS Fund, GMHC, African Action On AIDS, Harry Winston, Giorgio Armani (RED).



Visit www.newyorkaidsfilmfestival.org for more information.



Address festival inquiries to: Address general press inquiries to:

GIRL BEHIND THE CAMERA PRODUCTIONS Nevette Previd (Publicity)

Carissa Potenza (Director of Programming) 917-841-0656

511 Avenue of the Americas #302 nevette@previdconsulting.com (or)

New York, NY 10011-8436 press@newyorkaidsfilmfestival.org

646-337-8318

carissa@newyorkaidsfilmfestival.org Address “MAGGIE & ME” inquiries to:

Hilla Narov (Full Picture Publicity)

915 Broadway, 20th Floor

NY, NY 10010

212-367-8078

hnarov@fullpic.com








The 4th-Annual New York AIDS Film Festival

Events and Screening Schedule



Nov. 29, 6pm - Opening Night Special Film Screening: “3 NEEDLES”, with cocktails and post-screening discussion. (“3 NEEDLES” stars Lucy Liu, Chloe Sevigny, Shawn Ashmore, Stockard Channing and Olympia Dukakis). United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium. Lucy Liu and Shawn Ashmore confirmed to attend.

RSVP to: unscreenings@newyorkaidsfilmfestival.org ( CLOSED)



Dec. 1, 7pm-12am - NYAFF Opening Night Red Ball Gala. Celeste Bartos Forum at the New York Public Library, Fifth Avenue (42nd Street entrance). Tickets $400. RSVP to: redball@newyorkaidsfilmfestival.org



Dec. 2, 11am-8:30pm - Screenings at King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, New York University, 53 Washington Square South (between Thompson and Sullivan). Q&As with filmmakers and experts to follow each screening.

RSVP to: tickets@newyorkaidsfilmfestival.org



11am - “ROAD TO HOPE”

1pm - “SHYAMAM (DARK CLOUDS OF REALITY)”

3:30pm - BET’S “LET’S TALK”

5pm - “TUMAINI LETU (OUR HOPE)”

6:30pm - HBO’s “YESTERDAY”



Dec. 3, 11am-7pm - Screenings at King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, New York University, 53 Washington Square South (between Thompson and Sullivan). Q&As with filmmakers and experts to follow each screening.

RSVP to: tickets@newyorkaidsfilmfestival.org



MORNING SHORTS BLOCK (11am-1pm):

11am - “JUDGMENT DAY”

11:45am - “TIME FOR COMPASSIONATE CHANGE”

12:15pm - “THE MORNING AFTER”

(Q&A to follow Morning Shorts Block)

1pm - MTV International’s “STAYING ALIVE: 48FEST” documentary and short narratives

2:30pm - “PAINTED POSITIVE”

3:30pm - “THAT’S UNFORTUNATE”

4:30pm - “BEAT THE DRUM”



Dec. 3, 8pm - Closing Awards Ceremony, Helen & Martin Kimmel Center, NYU, 60 Washington Square South. Tickets $50 dollars. RSVP to tickets@newyorkaidsfilmfestival.org



Dec. 4, 9am-8:45pm - Screenings at Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium, United Nations (Visitors Entrance at 1st Avenue and 46th Street). Special Panel discussions to follow most screenings.

RSVP to: unscreenings@newyorkaidsfilmfestival.org



9am - HBO’s “ORPHANS OF NKANDLA”

10:30am - Sneak Preview & Press Conference for Documentary “MAGGIE & ME”

11:30am - MTV’s “THINK HIV”

12:30pm - Cable Positive’s “POSITIVE VOICES”

1:30pm - “PHIR MILENGE”

4:30pm - CNN’s “WHERE HAVE ALL THE PARENTS GONE?”

6pm - BET’s “LET’S TALK”

7pm - Cocktails, press event for NYAFF closing film

7:30pm - Winning entry in MTV International’s “STAYING ALIVE: 48FEST” Short Film Competition

7:45pm - MTV International’s “STAYING ALIVE: 48FEST” documentary



All film screenings at NYU and the UN are free and open to the public, courtesy of a generous grant from the MAC AIDS FUND.



Please contact tickets@newyorkaidsfilmfestival.org to coordinate student field trips and group tickets to all events and screenings.







NY AIDS Film Festival ’06

Screening & Events Schedule







Wednesday, 11/29

United Nations’ Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium



6pm “3 Needles” special Opening Night screening, followed by Q&A

Director: Thom Fitzgerald



Special screening, by invitation only. UNICEF Ambassador Lucy Liu, director Thom Fitzgerald, actor Shawn Ashmore, and other stars of the film to attend. Cocktails to be served during press/red carpet.



Q&A panel after film will include: UNAIDS’ Bunmi Makinwa, director Thom Fitzgerald, Lucy Liu, and other members of the film’s cast.



Three Continents, Three Stories, One Unforgettable Experience:

Three people in different cultures make a deal with the devil to survive a global epidemic.







Friday, 12/1

Bartos Forum at the New York Public Library (Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street)



7pm-12am Opening Night Red Ball Gala



Hosted by Alexandra and Vanessa Kerry. Evening will include opening ceremony, cocktails, dinner and dancing. Honorees to include: UN AIDS - Marking the work of the United Nations in the Fight Against AIDS Her Royal Highness - Sarah Ferguson - The Duchess of York Bill Roedy - President of MTV International & Chairman of the Global Media AIDS Initiative - Supermodel Maggie Rizer - Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS. Tickets $400.








NYU SCREENINGS, DAY ONE:



Saturday, 12/2

NYU’s King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center (53 Washington Square South)



11am “Road To Hope” (TRT 1 hr., 15 min., followed by Q&A)

Director: Leslie Marie Cannon



“Road To Hope” documents The Road to Hope Tour Coalition, which is a group of HIV/AIDS service providers, advocacy, and research organizations who have joined together in an historic movement to voice their support and unity. Hope’s Voice and Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC) are excited to bring the Road to Hope Tour to the public. The tour makes stops at high schools and college campuses around the nation. The tour will roll into each new stop to inform and educate students. Hope’s Voice will be bringing their national awareness campaign “Does HIV Look Like Me?”, which is based on both a myth and reality. The myth is that one’s HIV status can be determined based on looks alone and the reality is that HIV does not discriminate. Each stop on the tour features a program that includes a panel of Hope’s Voice speakers talking and answering questions about living with HIV/AIDS. Student Global AIDS Campaign representatives will be informing students on how they can join the fight against HIV/AIDS and start their own chapters. Following each presentation students will have an opportunity to meet the Hope’s Voice speakers and SGAC representatives. Students will be able to pick up packets of information about HIV/AIDS from the RV and can visit various corporate and local sponsor booths set up with information to take home.



1pm “Shyamam” (TRT 1 hr. 30 min., followed by Q&A)

Director: Sreevallabhan Balan



The "Shyamam" (“Dark Clouds Of Reality”) is an Indian regional language movie written and directed by Sreevallabhan Balan that tells the touching story of a family grappling with fate and a cruel society. The movie is the maiden venture of the director. The main thread of the movie is centered on a then-rich family who gets AIDS, and the approach of the society towards them. The movie shows us how much the dark clouds of this deadly disease have loomed into the society. The basic human nature is not all changing even towards little children and the movie concentrates mostly on these two little kids. Even though the kids are getting support and help from their grandmother and others from the village, it ultimately proves to be not enough. The movie has touched various vistas of human mentality and the director has been very successful in portraying the realities into the limelight.



3:30pm BET’s “Let’s Talk” (TRT 40 min., followed by Q&A)

Beautiful, intelligent, soulful Essence (Jillian Reeves de Ortiz) is a teacher and spoken word poet. Her open communication and passion for life is shared by Maurice (Lamman Rucker), a handsome and socially conscious teacher at a school for the deaf. Although their relationship is fairly new, they can feel their sexual chemistry growing. The two decide to move to the "next level" when the issue of HIV testing raises a new level of discussion. Will Essence and Maurice be able to sustain their relationship or are they simply on two different pages? Will this fire fizzle or continue to burn? Let's Talk explores issues concerning sex, safety and loving ourselves.

5pm “Tumaini Letu” (TRT 20 min., followed by Q&A)

Director: Natalie Halpern



In the villages of western Kenya, AIDS has robbed hundreds of thousands of children of their parents. “Tumaini Letu” (“Our Hope”) follows the lives, struggles, and indomitable spirit of three women left to care for these orphans. Rasoa Kivairu is raising ten grandchildren. Anna Khautu is a single mother of five. And Anna Aredo has taken in four nephews. With limited resources but great resolve, they must overcome many challenges to ensure these orphans have a chance at a better future.



Q&A to include: Director Natalie Halpern



6:30pm “Yesterday” (TRT 1 hour, 36 min., followed by Q&A)

Director: Darrell Roodt



Yesterday (Leleti Khumalo) lives in Rooihoek, a remote village in South Africa's Zululand. Her everyday life is not easy—there's little money, no modern conveniences, and her husband is away in Johannesburg working as a miner—but she possesses a sunny nature, and takes great joy in her seven-year-old daughter, Beauty (Lihle Mvelase). The precarious balance of Yesterday's life is suddenly threatened when she is diagnosed with AIDS and must journey afar to understand and confront her illness. Yesterday's primary driving force is Beauty, who is a year away from starting school. Yesterday never had the chance to go to school and she sets her sights on a single goal: to be with Beauty on her first day of class, along with all the other proud mothers. Set against the awesome, harsh landscapes of South Africa, YESTERDAY is an eloquent, unsentimental film that quietly builds an overwhelming emotional force. The sure hand of writer/director Darrell James Roodt (“Cry, the Beloved Country,” “Sarafina!”) makes the exotic world of the story both authentic and compelling, and the film resonates from the heartbreakingly beautiful face of lead actress Khumalo (who played Sarafina at 18). The first international film ever made in the Zulu language, YESTERDAY is a story of courage, compassion and hope, set in contemporary South Africa, ten years after the arrival of democracy.





(Competing PSA entries will be shown throughout the festival.)







NYU SCREENINGS, DAY TWO:



Sunday, 12/3

NYU’s King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center (53 Washington Square South)



MORNING SHORTS BLOCK:

11am “Judgment Day” (TRT 22 min.)

Director: Andy Wells

Judgment Day is a simple story about the fears in one gay man's mind, as a promiscuous past may mean HIV infection. The story takes us on a dark journey into the deep reaches of the libido as the images become increasingly haunting. To find solace, Roy closely examines his life and the life of his best friend John, who is HIV positive. This dissection uncovers that Roy has lost site on the things that are truly important in life and in the end, those realizations can bring the solace that he seeks.

11:45am “Time for Compassionate Change” (TRT 21 min.)

Director: David Brunner



Every 20 minutes another gay or bisexual male in the United States is diagnosed with AIDS. Through personal perspective interviews and dramatization, this 20-minute documentary shows the current HIV and AIDS epidemic in Pittsburgh among the MSM population, and how one AIDS Service organization helps to overcome this local epidemic.



12:15pm “The Morning After” (TRT 10 min.)

Director: Todd Ahlberg



“The Morning After” is Episode one of The HIV IS STILL A BIG DEAL Project, a collaboration of the Medical and Health Research Association of New York City, Inc and the Steinhardt School of Education, New York University. Episodes of the project are 8-10 minute video dramas, with a continuing cast, that address topics and issues of importance to gay and bisexual men. “The Morning After” is about three gay male friends, one of whom, Josh, thinks he may have had unprotected sex with an HIV-positive man who did not disclose his status. The situation portrayed addresses the importance of disclosure of HIV status between partners and uses drama to promote critical thinking about high-risk sexual practices and related beliefs and attitudes.



12:25pm Morning Shorts Block Q&A



Panel to include: “The Morning After”s Exec. Producer Francine Shuchat Shaw, Mary Ann Chiasson (Infectious Disease Epidemiologist)



1pm MTV-I’s “Staying Alive: 48 Fest” doc (TRT 30 min.)

MTV-I’s “Staying Alive: 48 Fest” shorts (TRT 24 min.)



As part of MTV International’s ongoing HIV and AIDS prevention campaign, Staying Alive, MTV organized its first film competition, 48fest, at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada. 48 youth delegates, divided over 8 teams, were chosen to write, shoot, edit and deliver a short film of three minutes on a given theme related to HIV and AIDS awareness in just 48 hours. Staying Alive: FortyEightFest is a half-hour documentary about the whole process, and is hosted by Nelly Furtado and also features actor Richard Gere and pop stars Alicia Keys and Justin Timberlake.



2:30pm “Painted Positive” (TRT 13 min., followed by Q&A)

Director: Terry Haines



“Painted Positive” is an honest testament of one persons experience living with HIV as a visible minority. The film’s main character talks about his feelings, fears, coping strategies and hope in an intimate setting that invites the viewer to come face-to-face with an individual living with the disease.



3:30pm “That’s Unfortunate” (TRT 6 min., followed by Q&A)

Director: Dean Hamer



AIDS activists storm the Family Research Council to protest its opposition to condoms, sex education, and science-based HIV prevention. The filmmaker was able to get inside and film 12 activists who chained themselves to a 'traditional marriage shrine' - until a guard snatched his camera. Filmed in Washington DC during four days of prayer, lawmaker visits, protests and a march sponsored by the Campaign to End AIDS.



4:30pm “Beat The Drum” (TRT 1 hour, 54 min., followed by Q&A)

Director: David Hickson



BEAT THE DRUM, which most recently took the top film award at the Apollo Film Festival in South Africa for Best Film, has now received 29 film festival awards. It is a profoundly moving "fish out-of-water" tale of a young boy, Musa who is orphaned after a mysterious illness strikes his village in KwaZulu Natal. To help his grandmother, Musa sets out for Johannesburg with his father's last gift, a tribal drum, in search of work and his uncle. The journey confronts him with the stark realities of urban life, but his indomitable spirit never wavers; he returns with a truth and understanding his elders have failed to grasp. Beautifully shot, it speaks volumes on the AIDS epidemic and why it is still so prevalent and why it continues to take countless innocent victims.





(Competing PSA entries will be shown throughout the festival.)





Sunday, 12/3

NYU’s Helen & Martin Kimmel Center (60 Washington Square South)



8pm-10:30pm Closing Awards Ceremony



Awards given to films in five categories. Cocktails and hors d’oevres to be served. Tickets $50.







UN SCREENINGS:



Monday, 12/4

United Nations’ Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium



9am HBO’s “Orphans of Nkandla” (TRT 1 hr., 19 min.)

Directors: Brian Woods & Deborah Shipley



From the co-director of the Peabody Award-winning The Dying Rooms, this feature documentary puts a human face on the devastating AIDS crisis in Africa through the stories of three families of South African orphans whose lives have been wrecked by the pandemic, but who struggle on and still find reason to hope.



10:30am “MAGGIE & ME” Preview/UN briefing



11:30am MTV’s “Think HIV” (TRT 21 min., followed by panel/Q&A)



25 years after the first documented case of AIDS, MTV and the Kaiser Family Foundation have come together to create think HIV, a vibrant platform that serves to educate about, spark discussion on and lead to action around the impact HIV/AIDS has had on young people. Think: Sexual health is part of think MTV (www.think.mtv.com) - a vibrant community where young people get informed, connect to each other, express themselves and take action on the issues important to them, their community and their world. With the credo “Reflect. Decide. Do.” think MTV, in partnership with almost 40 national and international organizations, enables young people to get involved in important domestic and international issues – such as education, sexual health, discrimination, the environment & natural disasters, and global affairs – through long-form documentaries, public service announcements, news segments, think moments, a comprehensive website and interactive forum at think.mtv.com, emerging media platforms, speaking engagements, and grassroots activities, materials and issue guides.



12:30pm Cable Positive’s “Positive Voices” (TRT 12 min., followed by panel/Q&A)

Positive Voices is a new 12-minute documentary produced by Cable Positive focusing on the workplace discrimination action against Matthew Cusick, an HIV-positive performer with Cirque du Soleil. The piece features members from the legal and medical community, along with Matthew and those in his close circle. This documentary is Cable Positive’s first in an upcoming series that will focus on various issues surround HIV/AIDS.

1:30pm “Phir Milenge”, introduced by ILO rep. (TRT 2 hrs., 45 min.)

Director: Revathy
Tamanna Sahni is an accomplished business executive, lives with her radio-broadcaster sister, Tanya, and leads a fairly upper middle-class life. She does have a sweetheart in U.S.-settled Rohit Manchanda. She is thrilled when she finds out that Rohit has returned, they get together and spend some time in close intimacy. Then Rohit returns to the U.S., and is not heard of again. Six months later, when Tamanna is ready to go into an important meeting, she is summoned by Dr. Raisingh to attend the hospital immediately as Tanya has met with an accident. Tamanna drops everything and goes to the hospital, where she is asked to give some blood in exchange for the blood given to Tanya, which she does. A few days later, she gets another phone call from Dr. Raisingh - and it is after this phone call that Tamanna's life will be turned upside down; she will lose her job; her contacts; and all of her friends; her employer will accuse her of not performing properly, and the only way she can get someone to hear her story is by going to Court. Watch what happens when she actually gets to Court, and if at all she gets any justice.


4:30pm CNN’s “Where Have All The Parents Gone?” (TRT 1 hr., followed by panel/Q&A)

CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour reports from the slums and villages of Kenya, where more than one million AIDS orphans are trying to survive. 'Where Have All the Parents Gone?' is an hour-long documentary that discovers the lost generation of AIDS: those who are infected at birth or very early on in life and those left to fight the AIDS pandemic on their own.



Amanpour goes right to the heart of the human tragedy as she meets the orphans who have lost their childhood as a result of the pandemic and now survive on their own. She also meets those who are working to help these children build a better life and receive the treatment they so desperately need.



6pm BET’s “Let’s Talk” (40 min.)

Beautiful, intelligent, soulful Essence (Jillian Reeves de Ortiz) is a teacher and spoken word poet. Her open communication and passion for life is shared by Maurice (Lamman Rucker), a handsome and socially conscious teacher at a school for the deaf. Although their relationship is fairly new, they can feel their sexual chemistry growing. The two decide to move to the "next level" when the issue of HIV testing raises a new level of discussion. Will Essence and Maurice be able to sustain their relationship or are they simply on two different pages? Will this fire fizzle or continue to burn? Let's Talk explores issues concerning sex, safety and loving ourselves



7pm cocktails/press for closing film, MTV I’s “Staying Alive: 48Fest”



7:30pm winning “Staying Alive: 48 Fest” short (TRT 3 min.)



7:45pm “Staying Alive: 48 Fest” doc (TRT 30 min., followed by panel/Q&A)



As part of MTV International’s ongoing HIV and AIDS prevention campaign, Staying Alive, MTV organized its first film competition, 48fest, at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada. 48 youth delegates, divided over 8 teams, were chosen to write, shoot, edit and deliver a short film of three minutes on a given theme related to HIV and AIDS awareness in just 48 hours. Staying Alive: FortyEightFest is a half-hour documentary about the whole process, and is hosted by Nelly Furtado and also features actor Richard Gere and pop stars Alicia Keys and Justin Timberlake.


Panel to include: “48Fest” participants Marvelyn Brown and Catherine ??, MTV International’s Georgia Arnold, UNAIDS’ Bunmi Makinwa