Life, Above All
Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2011
June 16 - 30, 2011
Closing Night Film & Reception
Screening followed by discussion with filmmaker Oliver Schmitz.
In this artful reinvention of the “coming-of-age story,” a girl in a South African township struggles when the spread of HIV/AIDS afflicts her own mother.
Closing Night Film & Reception
Screening followed by discussion with filmmaker Oliver Schmitz.
Exploring cultural taboos, adolescence, and religion through the lens of HIV/AIDS, a poorly understood and much-feared disease, Life, Above All brings us into the life of a young girl as she struggles to maintain the facade of a normal life amidst utter instability. The spread of HIV/AIDS appears to be ravaging Chanda’s South African township even though no one will speak the actual words. When her mother’s illness becomes apparent, the community turns against Chanda’s family. Her mother chooses to leave home on the advice of a well-meaning but overbearing neighbor, who has her own secrets. Filmmaker Oliver Schmitz instills his film with a keen sense of insight and emotional gravitas that is at once artful and accessible.
PLEASE NOTE: Unfortunately lead actress Khomotso Manyaka will not be able to attend the screeening.
Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics. Presented in partnership with United Nations Association of New York.
US theatrical release July 15, 2011.
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