AHF Supports Award-Winning “90 Days” Short Film At Pan African Film Festival
AIDS Healthcare Foundation and its Black Leadership AIDS Crisis
Coalition (BLACC) continues sponsorship of annual film festival
promoting black filmmakers and actors
LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#90DaysTheFilm–AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and its Black Leadership AIDS Crisis
Coalition (BLACC) is pleased to announce their sponsorship of the 2017
Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) taking place February 9-20, at Rave
Cinemas Baldwin Hills Crenshaw located within the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw
Plaza at 3650 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
This year, AHF and BLACC is proud to support the award-winning short
film 90
Days, a poignant story from directors Nathan Hale Williams and Jennia
Frederique Aponte and executive producer Jussie Smollett
about a young couple having to confront the challenges of loving with
HIV.
Starring Teyonah Parris (Chiraq, Dear White
People, Mad Men), Nic Few, Pauletta Washington
(Beloved) and Rodney Chester (Noah’s Arc), the film
has already been named “Best Short Film” at the 15th Hollywood Reel
Independent Film Festival (2017) and will be screened at the Pan African
Film Festival on Sunday, February 12th at
1:00 p.m. A panel discussion with the filmmakers moderated by
television host and producer Karamo Brown will immediately follow
the film screening.
The film trailer may be viewed at 90daysthefilm.com
WHAT: Screening of 90 Days short film during the 25th
Pan African American Film Festival
WHEN:
Sunday, February 12th
Showtime:
1:00 p.m.
WHERE:
Rave Cinemas Baldwin Hills Crenshaw
3650 Martin
Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90008
“We believe that storytelling is a perfect vehicle for advocacy and
activism. With 90 Days, our goal is to use entertainment to
advocate for the message that ‘love is greater than anything,’ including
HIV,” Williams explains. “The HIV infection and death rates remain on
the rise in communities of color in the United States—even rivaling
those of sub-Saharan Africa in major cities like Atlanta. Advancements
in medicine and treatment have made HIV a treatable chronic disease and
thus, the epidemic has all but disappeared from our daily dialogue. Our
story of love and acceptance seeks to move the conversation back to
center in a way only art can do.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
African Americans account for more new HIV infections, people estimated
to be living with HIV disease, and HIV-related deaths than any other
racial/ethnic group in the U.S. The rate of new HIV infections among
African Americans is nearly 8 times that of whites and more than twice
that of Latinos. In 2010, African-American women accounted for the
largest share of new HIV infections among women and the incidence rate
among African-American women was 20 times the rate among white women and
over 4 times the rate among Latinas.
“AHF is thrilled to continue our ongoing partnership with the Pan
African Film Festival and to throw our full support behind 90 Days,”
said Christopher Johnson, AHF Associate Director of
Communications. “The filmmakers have presented a modern love story that
is as compelling and poignant as it is a timely launching pad for
much-needed discussion about relationships and HIV in the black
community. This is truly a project that everyone needs to see and we’re
excited to help present it to the community at PAFF 25.”
Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, PAFF 25 will
screen 202 films, 124 of which are feature-length. The seventy-eight
short films screened will be in consideration for Academy Awards as PAFF
has been approved as an Academy qualifying festival.
AHF has been a sponsor of the annual Pan African Film Festival for many
years. Last year, the organization supported the feature-length
documentary Wilhelmina’s War by AHF Grant Fund recipient June
Cross. Shot over the course of five years in rural South Carolina,
the award-winning documentary tells the story of Wilhelmina Dixon, the
daughter of sharecroppers who becomes a force in her family’s fight for
survival from HIV and AIDS.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS
organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over
683,000 individuals in 36 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin
America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn
more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org,
find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth
and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare
and Instagram: @aidshealthcare
Contacts
AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Christopher Johnson, Associate
Director of Communications
+1.323.960.4846 work
+1.310.880.9913
mobile
christopher.johnson@aidshealth.org
