Film festival helps AIDS groups

Film schedule

The Second Annual New York AIDS Film Festival will screen 16 short and feature-length documentaries and narratives, plus a special screening of the Emmy Award-winning film, “Angels in America.” All screenings will take place at the Hudson Hotel, 356 West 58 Street. Among the films to be screened are:

‘IV Goddesses,” world premiere screening by Emmy award-winning, Academy Award-nominated and HIV positive director Sharon Sopher (“Witness to Apartheid”). The first documentary ever by a woman living with AIDS, it tells the untold story of women and AIDS in America;
“The Event,” which premiered in May at the Tribeca Film Festival and stars Olympia Dukakis and Parker Posey, about a young man’s life and death;
“AIDS Treatment: Reaching the People?” a documentary following the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS in Guatemala, Thailand and Malawi, and their struggle to get treatment in lands of overwhelming need and limited resources; and
“The Self-Destruction of Gia,” a documentary on the life and untimely death of supermodel Gia Carnagi.
NEW YORK — The Second Annual New York AIDS Film Festival will be held here Sept. 17–23 at the Hudson Hotel. The festival will include the screening of 17 films focusing on the challenges and triumphs of people with AIDS around the world.

Highlighting the festival is “The Red Ball” Opening Gala on the 17th and the Awards presentation on the 23rd, where Meryl Streep will present the festival’s highest honor to HBO’s “Angels in America” director, Mike Nichols. Donations from both events will benefit African Action on AIDS, FilmAid International, and the festival’s educational programs.

“The festival was created to showcase films which can educate and awaken people to the reality of the HIV/AIDS virus,” said festival founder Suzanne Engo. “We inaugurated the festival last year to gage the viability of such an endeavor and were overwhelmed with the response of filmmakers and AIDS activists who saw the potential in fighting this global pandemic through film. We also created high-profile events to raise money for two organizations whose missions speak to the festival’s core goal — education and social activism through film. This year we are particularly proud to be honoring director Mike Nichols, whose groundbreaking “Angels in America” brought the heartbreak and hope of HIV/AIDS into homes around the world.”

Streep will present Nichols with the Berthe Meka’a Award, named after an African Action on AIDS activist. The award is presented to a member of the film or television community whose work “educates, entertains and empowers in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.” Last year’s winner was Rory Kennedy for her documentary, “Pandemic: Facing AIDS.”

For more information on The Second Annual New York AIDS Film Festival call (212) 592-1950 or log on to www.newyorkaidsfilmfestival.org.