30 Years / 30 Lives

As the world community approaches the thirtieth year of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, "30 Years / 30 Lives" aims to recalibrate our vision by introducing viewers to thirty individuals in the United States, South Africa, Thailand, and Mexico whose lives have intersected in some way with HIV/AIDS, whether through care for or loss of a loved one, engagement in humanitarian response, or acquisition of an infection directly. The project presents portraits of the 30 participants along with their stories to help the public see the faces behind the statistics, to provide information about the social realities in which HIV/AIDS becomes manifest, and to encourage a just and compassionate response to what has been called the worst human rights disaster in history. By highlighting the work of ten organizations responding to socio-economic issues the pandemic puts into sharp relief, "30/30" documents the structural dimensions of HIV/AIDS, exploring how the virus proliferates when the public is complacent, content to tolerate: ridiculously high levels of poverty and hunger; religious fundamentalism; xenophobia; inequitable access to healthcare; violence against women; illiteracy and inequitable access to education; mistreatment of vulnerable persons (elders and orphans); AIDS denialism; human trafficking; and political violence.