Still Around

the filmmakers

HOPING WISHING PRAYING

HOPING, WISHING, PRAYING, an experimental short by filmmaker Sade Huron, emotively illuminates the intensely personal poem “What’s inside of me“ by spoken word artist Roxanne Hanna Ware.

Abstract images and insightful words interact to expose the raw pain, profound isolation and defiant strength of living with HIV for over a decade. Ultimately the film is a poignant celebration of the alchemy of adversity.

Filmmaker: Sade Huron
Originating from Wales in the United Kingdom, Huron now lives and works in the San Francisco Bay area. Her art encompasses video, performance, interactive installation, and photography.

Huron's work has been exhibited, screened and performed internationally, at among other sites: The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, The National Film Theatre — London, England, The Directors Guild of America — Los Angeles, CA. the Oakland Art Gallery — Oakland CA, the Walter and McBean Gallery — San Francisco CA. Select publications of her work are included in the book, 'Acts of Passion, Gender and Performance' by Haworth Press and in 'Blue' Australian photography magazine.

www.sadehuron.com

BLUR

Dr. Richard Jones, a retired optometrist recalls homophobia and being shunned by friends soon after the AIDS epidemic began. Not your average trip down memory lane by a survivor who lost many friends due to ignorance and politics of the early eighties.

Amir Jaffer was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, and has been residing in the Bay Area since 1998. He began exploring the world of filmmaking with his father's video camera at the age of thirteen. In 2004, he realized his childhood dream by co-founding Aisha Media to tell intriguing and captivating stories through moving pictures. With a Bachelors Degree in International Relations and a passion for filmmaking, Amir believes in making movies that are meaningful and make people think. His storytelling style is influenced by the works of Pedro Almodovar, Deepa Mehta and Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

INSTANT DAD

INSTANT DAD reveals the filmmaker's struggle and determination to live though the height of the AIDS epidemic when he unexpectedly became the legal guardian for his 10 year-old nephew.æ

Filmmaker: Rick Osmon
Rick Osmon arrived in San Francisco in December 1978 and has loved the city ever since. During the 1980s, he wrote for the Bay Times about AIDS, the bathhouses and sex clubs. His articles were reprinted in the Journal of Homosexuality, Autumn 2007.æ

In 1992, after losing his lover and best friend to AIDS,æOsmon did not expect to live much longer, but the arrival of his 10 year old nephew gave him an ironclad resolve to stay alive to fulfill his parental obligations.

After being a sponsor at Frameline since the late 1990s, Osmon quit real estate to become a filmmaker. He showed two shorts at Frameline's 2010 Festival and is currently finishing work on a fisting documentary and producing a feature length fiction film "Le Séjour Paradisiaque" in Cannes, France.

WARD 86

After an unknown virus hits the San Francisco gay community in the 80’s Ali, a social worker and activist, was impelled to devote her life’s work to HIV/AIDS and Ward 86.

Filmmaker: Debra A. Wilson
Bay Area based producer/director Debra A. Wilson made her national debut with her film Butch Mystique, which she wrote and directed. The film has been screened in more than thirty film festivals; won numerous awards and aired on Showtime’s Black Filmmakers Showcase. She directed her next documentary Jumpin’ the Broom: The New Covenant, which aired on Showtime and Logo.

In 2009, Debra co-produced the award winning feature film Mississippi Damned. While on the festival circuit, Mississippi Damned amassed an impressive eleven awards from participation in thirteen film festivals including airing on Showtime (2011).

She earned a B.A. degree in Television Film Production at Cal-State University Northridge.

Debra is currently in development on her next feature Man Up Above as producer.

SECRETS OF A SISTER

Sister Vicious Power Hungry Bitch of the Order of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence spills the beans.

Filmmaker: Anne Siegel
Anne Siegel is an award winning filmmaker, TV and radio journalist and writer. She has worked as a foreign correspondent in Israel and Palestine, produced features in Iceland, Denmark, GB, the United States and North Africa. She is also the co-creator of several German comedy TV shows. In addition she wrote, directed and produced a number of documentaries as well as video-installations.

PAWS

PAWS explores the relationship between Richard, a spirited long-term AIDS survivor who’s weathered life-threatening illness and a year of paralysis, and his best friend’a playful dog named Dexter.

Filmmaker: Tim Kulikowski
Tim Kulikowski has ventured through the realms of advertising and marketing, website project management, multimedia consulting, teaching English in Tokyo, and most recently, filmmaking. Currently at work on aætravel book based on two years of exploring five continents, Tim earned his MBA from theæThunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix, Arizona. He works and lives in San Francisco.

Filmmaker: Ian Wolfley
Ian Wolfley earned a degree in Moving Image Arts from the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico. His documentary work has been shown at festivals across the country, including the Museum of Television and Radio in New York, Slamdance in Utah, and Frameline. He is currently involved in a variety of film and media projects in San Francisco.

FULL CIRCLE

While living in a sleepy Northern California town, Elaine is shocked to learn of her unexpected HIV diagnosis with her fiancé by her side. Despite the news, they marry and raise a beautiful daughter. For better and for worse, the three of them face HIV together as a family. With her husband and daughter always beside her, Elaine learns to tell her story to women and students everywhere so that they can learn from her experience. Elaine shows us a different face of the epidemic and how each of us can make a difference, one story at a time.

Filmmaker: Stuart Gaffney
Stuart Gaffney has been making films and videos about HIV/AIDS and his Asian, Hapa and gay identities since 1994. The Guggenheim Museum included Stuart’s videos on HIV/AIDS in their “Fever in the Archive” program of AIDS Activist Video. His award-winning works have been screened and broadcast worldwide.

Stuart and his husband John Lewis, together 24 years, were plaintiffs in the California lawsuit for equal marriage rights, and legally married in 2008 after the case prevailed before the California Supreme Court. Stuart was born and raised in Milwaukee.æHe studied English literature at Yale University, and he works as a Policy Analyst at the University of California, San Francisco's Center for AIDS Prevention Studies.

OURS

OURS intimately examines the universality of our need to touch and be touched- both physically, emotionally and spiritually. The film explores seven intensely personal relationships, each expressing a unique connection, which collectively reveal the deeply rooted bond between physical touch and our emotional experiences.

Filmmaker: Robert Dekkers
Recently named “25 To Watch” by DANCE Magazine, Robert Dekkers has danced professionally with Ballet Arizona, ODC/Dance, and Company C Contemporary Ballet. Since he began choreographing in 2001, his works have been presented at venues including the Tanzsommer Festival (Vienna), the Ballet Builders Showcase (New York City) and the World Ballet Competition (Orlando). In 2008, Dekkers was named Resident Choreographer of NovaBallet, where he created several critically acclaimed new works for the company.

In 2009, Dekkers founded Post:Ballet with the vision to create multidisciplinary collaborations that use dance as a means, not an end, to artistic expression. Dekkers has developed numerous works for Post:Ballet since it’s inception, working closely with diverse artists to create and present works through various mediums including film, photography, and live performance.

RITUAL

One man's journey to coping with his HIV infection through a hooking ritual.

Filmmaker: Jörg Fockele
An award-winning filmmaker and television producer, Jörg has written and directed over ten short films and documentaries, numerous music videos and produced/ directed television shows such as “Queer Eye” and “Wife Swap”. Of the awards and distinctions he has received, the most important ones are retrospectives at the Goethe Institutes New York City, San Francisco, Chicago and Mexico City, 2 Emmys and a special prize from the International Film Festival in Berlin. Originally from Hamburg in Germany, Jörg lived in New York for 13 years before he moved to San Francisco in 2008. He is making a living directing and producing shows for the “Sundance Channel” and for “Discovery Channel” while at the same time working on two feature scripts.

CONSTRUCT

One night, HIV positive crystal meth addict Matthew Blanchard passed out in his apartment. He awoke 12 days later, suffering from a brutal bacterial infection that had destroyed his face. He is now clean, sober and in the process of reconstructing his life, and his physical self.

Filmmaker: Daniel Cardone
Graduating from Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia in 1994, Daniel Cardone made a series of largely unseen short films — Everybody’s Dead, Curious and Napalm — which combined urban mystery and miscommunications with lurid dialogue, before moving to Melbourne in 1999. In Melbourne he worked with acclaimed production company Big & Little Films, including working on the features Call Me Mum and The Home Song Stories. Daniel has also worked in production on the hit Network Seven Australia TV show City Homicide, the HBO/DreamWorks miniseries The Pacific, and the award-winning feature, Animal Kingdom. In 2006 he co-produced the wildly popular short film Outland. Daniel was Associate Producer for the sitcom based on Outland, with Princess Pictures and the Australia Broadcasting Corporation, which will air on ABC TV (Australia) in 2011. He currently lives in California.

TO LIVE

From the roots of injustice to the seeds of disease, TO LIVE is the journey of one man’s life struggle on the flipside of the American dream — from his beginnings as a foster child, to his yearning for hope, as he lives with HIV today.

Filmmaker: Emmanuelle Antolin
Emmanuelle Antolin is an independent filmmaker and editor whose work cuts across many genres, such as fiction, experimental and documentary, and encompasses a wide variety of themes. Emmanuelle has worked as an editor or assistant editor for Wieden+Kennedy and LucasFilm, and on award-winning films including “Sam Cooke: Crossing Over” and “Her Urge”, among others. Her work has shown in Solar World Cinema, the San Francisco International Women”s Film Festival, art galleries, and in other venues and festivals. Before filmmaking, Emmanuelle worked as an advocate and counselor for youth. Emmanuelle completed her BA at the University of California, Berkeley and an MA in Feature Film at Goldsmiths College, University of London. She is currently producing a documentary about the lesbian response to the early AIDS crisis.

TITA

Tita Aida, HIV/AIDS-educator-activist-superstar for the queer Asian & Pacific Islander community, is still fabulous, and still kicking ass.

Filmmaker: S. Leo Chiang
S. Leo Chiang is a Taiwan-born, San Francisco-based filmmaker. His most recent film, A Village Called Versailles, about the rebuilding and transformation of the Vietnamese-American community in post-Katrina New Orleans, picked up eight film festival awards, aired on PBS’ Independent Lens series, and has been acquired by more than 200 academic and public libraries. His previous films include To You Sweetheart, Aloha (PBS broadcast ’06), One + One (CINE Golden Eagle Award ’02), and Safe Journey. Leo also collaborates with other documentarians as an editor and as a cameraman. Leo received his MFA in film production from University of Southern California. He is also an active member of New Day Films, the social-issue documentary distribution co-operative.

I’M GONNA BE HERE

I’M GONNA BE HERE is a 5-minute film about Sylvia Young, an HIV positive Latina / Native American woman. Sylvia is a mother and a grandmother’a strong and thoughtful woman who derives solace and strength from her spirituality. She also now works with other HIV positive women to help guide them through the ups and downs of their journey living with the virus. Sylvia is not a victim but a powerful and inspiring role model who shows us how HIV need not be an ending but can instead be the start of a new road in life.

Filmmaker: Deborah Craig
Deborah Craig is a Bay Area filmmaker, photographer, musician, writer, and public health professional who has made several award-winning films about HIV positive women. Deborah has a B.A. in History from Columbia University. She has been a jazz drummer from an early age and has also pursued fine art photography since her teens. Like many artists, Deborah worked in the software industry for numerous years to earn a “real” living, publishing over a dozen books. Most recently, Deborah received her masters in public health at San Francisco State University. Her current work combines her interest in writing, the visual arts and public health. Her films use the power of media to depict the human side of health crises.

TELL ME

Through the lens of his camera, a man discovers a path to discussing his HIV status with an unexpected face-to-face encounter.

Filmmakeræ: Véronica Duport Deliz
A native of Switzerland, Véronica has traveled extensively throughoutæthe Americas, Asia,æAfrica and Europe.æShe isæfluent in five languages and has worked overseas as an interpreter, diving instructor, and dolphin trainer.æShe began her filmmaking career as a protagonist in a 6x52’ documentary about the rescue and release of a dolphin in captivity, The Blue Beyond.æIn Europe, Véronica worked with Swiss National Television where she co-directed several 5x25' documentary series.æCurrently, she works as a Director and Editor of full-length documentaries and short films, and has directed numerous features and documentaries inæHaiti,æIndia, Sikkim, Nepal, Norway, France, Switzerland and the United States.æVéronica attended San FranciscoæStateæUniversity where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with special distinction from the Cinema department

SORROW & JOY

SORROW & JOY tells the story of Alic Shook — a 30 year-old trans, gay man who is a writer, competitive swimmer, and health educator. When Alic was a woman, he went to live in Thailand to help children living with AIDS. As a trans, gay man living in present day San Francisco, he negotiates the challenges of safer sex and dating while also being an HIV educator for the San Francisco Department of Public Health. He faces the threat of becoming infected with HIV by finding his voice as a writer and by swimming through the sorrows and joys that come with his generation. His is story of hope that dreams of day when HIV will no longer be a threat to anyone.

Marc Smolowitz is an Academy Award-nominated film, television & new media producer, director and executive producer with 20+ years of experience across all aspects of the entertainment business. His credits include: “Trembling Before G-d” 2001, “The Weather Underground” 2003, “The Power Of Two” 2011, & “Still Around” 2011. Most recently, he was the Producer at TellyTopia, a Silicon Valley start up specializing in IP-TV and VOD products for cable companies. Currently, he is an Executive Producer/Consultant to a range of media and technology companies in the SF Bay Area and Faculty in the Digital Film Making program at the Art Institute of California, San Francisco. Notably, he was the President/Founder of Turbulent Arts, Inc., a successful niche market film and television company based in San Francisco (1995-2001) that ranked, at its peak, as the 26th largest entertainment business in North America, 14th among independents (Source: The Hollywood Reporter, Aug. 1998.)