Sinesipho: Why Must I Die?

A film by Pierre Peyrot and Patrice Barrat with Vicent Moloi

The epidemic of AIDS in South Africa is huge and the government has been lax in addressing the problem. In addition, on the international front, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has been slow to give aid to countries in need. This film shows how an HIV-positive mother, Busi Maqungo, living in a shanty town in South Africa, has become an AIDS activist. Through the internet, she contacts leaders of the Fund and actually meets some of them who are attending the G-8 Summit in London. She gets a sympathetic ear from prominent politicians like Kofi Annan and Paul Wolfowitz. They promise help and funds, but she remains skeptical. She is an example of citizens taking political responsibility who ultimately make a difference.

And who is Sinesipho, for whom the film is named? She was the young poster girl for the Global Fund, who lives with her grandmother in poverty and still believes AIDS is transmitted from other peoples' toothbrushes.

57 min. Video or DVD. Sale $295. Rental $85.

Best Editing Award, Figra, 2006