ONE SISTER AT A TIME: POSITIVE WOMEN'S STORIES
Discussion GuideFacts & Resources
Meet the Filmmakers
Documentary for Health & Social Justice
"We have to stop with all stereotypes because HIV is an equal opportunity infector." Film participant
ONE SISTER AT A TIME: POSITIVE WOMEN'S STORIES is a 15-minute documentary that explores the lives of HIV positive women from their point of view. There are powerful messages in these individual women's stories, which show that HIV affects women of different races, ages, and economic backgrounds.
Sylvia left her family in Puerto Rico to come to California for better medical care because she "wanted to live." Elaine went undiagnosed for seven years because doctors couldn't imagine that a middle-class white woman could be infected with HIV. Janell was about to get married and found that her fiancé had been HIV positive for 12 years. All of these women have faced struggles, but are powerful survivors who are living fulfilling lives. In the film, they come together in a community that reinforces their feelings of empowerment and hopes for the future.
Discussion Guide
One Sister at a Time highlights some of the struggles of HIV positive women but also emphasizes their inner strength and the crucial support systems that they form for themselves. This discussion guide spells out some of the movie's themes, and poses some questions that can help you engage your class, your family and friends, or your community in a discussion about women and HIV.
Themes:
- Women of all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds are potentially at risk of contracting HIV. Many of these women do not fit the stereotypical mold of low-income women who are infected because of a history of drug use or sex work.
- The stigmatization of HIV positive people is still pervasive and affects both their mental and physical health. Lack of knowledge about HIV/AIDS is perpetuating the stigma and fueling the epidemic.
- Social support networks (including family, friends, and support groups) and self-empowerment are important factors improving the health status of HIV positive women. Photography can be a means for HIV positive women to form community, express themselves, and educate others regarding HIV/AIDS.
Questions:
- Why might people be afraid to disclose?
- What could be some of the benefits of disclosing?
- What can we do to make it easier for people to disclose?
Facts & Resources
FACTS
- Over 55,000 new HIV infections occur in the U.S. each year-about one every 10 minutes.
- Almost 80% of women contract HIV through heterosexual contact, often from husbands or long-term partners.
- It is approximately 10 times easier for a woman to get HIV from a man than for a man to get it from a woman.
- In 1986, women represented less than 7% of U.S. AIDS cases. Currently, women represent over 25% of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses.
RESOURCES
- WORLD (Women Organized to Resist Life-Threatening Disease), 414 13th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, 510-986-0340, www.womenhiv.org. "An information and support network by, for, and about women living with HIV/AIDS."
- East
Bay AIDS Center (EBAC), Summit Campus, Providence Pavilion, 3100 Summit
Street, 2nd Floor, Oakland, CA 94609, (510) 869-8400, www.altabates.com/clinical/aids_scvs.html, www.eastbayaids.org. "Alta Bates Summit Medical Center's outpatient program specializing in the care and treatment of people living with HIV"
- Family Care Network (FCN), fcneastbay.org/,
"A program spanning Alameda and Contra Costa Counties that brings
together providers for the provision of coordinated, client and
family-centered medical and support services for women, children and
youth living with HIV/AIDS"
- San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF), 995 Market St, Ste 200, San Francisco, CA, 94103, (415) 487-3000, www.sfaf.org
- Alameda County Public Health Department, Office of AIDS Administration, http://www.acphd.org/user/services/listing.asp; resource guide
http://www.acphd.org/user/services/AtoZ_PrgDtls.asp?PrgId=91.
Meet the Filmmakers
One Sister at a Time
A Film by Deborah Craig, Véronica Deliz, Allison Haagensen, Brett Hickman & Ryan Hildebrant
DEBORAH CRAIG
Deborah Craig has an eclectic background in history, writing, public health, music,
and the visual arts. She received a B.A. in American History from Columbia University,
has been a jazz drummer and photographer since her teens, and spent
many years in the software industry, writing over a dozen books on
various software applications. She joined the Masters in Public Health
program at San Francisco State University
in the fall of 2006. Besides completing the required coursework, she is
taking documentary film classes to search for ways in which the arts
can be used to enhance awareness about public health issues. Her short
documentary The Verde Garden: Growing a Healthy Community, came out in the Spring of 2007 and was featured in the San Francisco State Film Finals. Another short film she worked on-Living Positive, about HIV positive women in New Orleans-came out in the Spring of 2008.
VÉRONICA DELIZ
Véronica Deliz was born and raised in Switzerland, where she received a degree in Pharmacy. She has traveled extensively throughout South and Central America, Asia, Africa and Europe,
and is fluent in five languages. Véronica has worked as a translator,
interpreter, diving instructor, and dolphin trainer. She began her
career in filmmaking by participating in a documentary focusing on the
rescue and release of a dolphin in captivity, The Blue Beyond (1998 - 6x52' documentary, Télé Image Nature, France). Upon returning to Switzerland, she
worked for four years as a reporter, filmmaker, producer, and director
for Swiss Romande National Television (TSR). Véronica co-directed a
set of prominent 5x25' documentary series, Secours en Montagne (2001) and Profession Guide de Montagne (2003), and has subsequently worked on numerous other features and documentaries in Haiti, India, Sikkim, Népal, Norway, France and Switzerland.
Most recently, she filmed, directed, and co-produced a film showing
handicapped kayakers on a grueling twelve-day expedition to Spitzberg, Norway.
Currently Véronica works with Lobitos Creek Ranch Productions here in
the Bay Areas an editor and director, and is completing her degree in
Cinema at San Francisco State University.
ALLISON HAAGENSEN
Allison Haagensen has
a background in photography, education, geography, and Spanish language
studies. She has spent the last five years as a literacy program leader
in the Oakland and San Francisco
public school systems. Allison believes in the power of photography to
raise awareness of social justice issues. Some of her recent work
documents the Zapatista Liberation Army in Chiapas, Mexico, and has been exhibited at Laney Community College and in San Francisco. "Documentary for Social Justice" at San Francisco State University
is Allison's first foray into film. She is passionate about the impact
of HIV in her Bay Area community and is honored to contribute to the
film project "One Sister at a Time: Positive Women's Stories" alongside
the talented team of Deborah Craig, Véronica Deliz, Brett Hickman, and
Ryan Hildebrant. Allison will graduate from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography and a degree in Spanish language in the fall of 2009.
BRETT HICKMAN
Brett Hickman - When he was a young boy, it was common to see Brett carrying his
father's large shoulder-mounted VHS camera, make small films with
anyone brave enough on the cul-de-sac where he lived. Eventually he
attended San Francisco State University, with a major in Cinema. There Brett took part in several student films, including a short documentary entitled The Verde Garden: Growing a Healthy Community, which was featured in the San Francisco State Film Finals and prompted a substantial United Way grant to the Verde Garden. He was also a second camera operator for the documentary, Living Positive, about HIV positive women in New Orleans. Brett graduated from San Francisco State University in May of 2007. He now lives in Irvine California, where is currently active as a freelance film editor and camera operator.
RYAN HILDEBRANT
Ryan Hildebrant has
had a lifelong interest in all forms of media. He holds an Associates
of Science degree in video production and, prior to coming to San Francisco State University,
two years of professional work experience on local documentaries,
educational programming, and video production for the web in his home
city of San Diego, California.
His primary production interests are in lighting and camera, although
he is experienced in post production and sound as well. Ryan will
graduate from San Francisco State University with his Bachelors of Arts in Cinema Production in May of 2008. Ryan was an essential member of the film team for Living Positive, a documentary about HIV positive women in New Orleans.
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