For four weeks Sorious Samura worked as a nursing aide in a Zambian government hospital and lived with an HIV/Aids-affected family. He used his extensive personal knowledge of the region and the culture to try and find answers on how to best combat the further spread of HIV
Samura exposes the untold story of Aids – how poverty and the complex nature of African culture and sexuality are hampering efforts to eradicate this horrifying disease.
He meets characters like Joshua and Lawson who continue to practise unprotected sex despite their HIV positive status, and Precious and Nancy, Aids orphans who fend for themselves in a world where sex “flesh to flesh” pays well and offers an easy short-term solution.
Samura also meets heroines such as Bitonda, who at 16 is in sole charge of her dying 14-year-old brother, an Aids-orphaned cousin, as well as her own child.
After one month, Samura is left with the realisation that for the war against HIV in Africa to be won, poverty, ignorance and sexual attitudes have to be tackled head on.
Awards
Winner One World Media Awards, Broadcast Journalist of the Year 2006
Press
An extraordinary documentary that gets deep into the heart of the issue… A moving documentary and a hugely important piece of journalism Anushka Asthana, Observer, 26 June 2005
A stunning report by the filmmaker, Sorious Samura Tom Sutcliffe, Independent, 28 June 2005
Few films paint such a vivid, evocative and stripped-bare portrait as this film. It is so graphic, you can almost smell the place… Thoughtful and intelligent Terry Ramsey, Evening Standard, 27 June 2005
