2003
"Does HIV cause AIDS? How can a virus cause a syndrome? It can't!"
- South African President Thabo Mbeki, August 2000
State of Denial takes an unprecedented and unflinching look at how the citizens of South Africa are living with the AIDS epidemic, given the climate of confusionand neglect perpetuated by President Thabo Mbeki's administration. Producer/Director Elaine Epstein, a native South African who has worked extensively in AIDS and public health, offers a unique insider's look at the complex issues affecting the nearly five million South Africans living with HIV and AIDS. The film offers a moving account of a society struggling to overcome the harsh realities of illness, global healthcare inequities, and government paralysis.
Intimate conversations with dozens of South Africans capture the unbreakable spirit of a people determined to conduct their lives with dignity, grace, and humor. As Mandla contemplates death, he pleads that God should spare his wife so that his children will not be orphaned. In another exchange, Nonzwakazi elicits laughter from her HIV/AIDS support group as she recounts how she was abandoned by a date after revealing she is HIV positive. To provide context to these personal stories, Epstein also secures candid, in-depth interviews with some of the country's most notable politicians, health care professionals, and activists- some of whom are her former colleagues.
Informative and thoughtful, State of Denial is a compelling document that highlights the complicated circumstances exacerbating a national health crisis. With images of pain, outrage, defiance, and hope, the film is an insightful investigation of humanity persevering in the face of unimaginable atrocity. South Africa may feel like a distant land, but these people and their stories possess an uncanny familiarity.
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