FILMMAKER-IN-RESIDENCE: The Complete Collection
Available Now on DVD! • To purchase visit nfb.ca/FIR
“It’s the new media equivalent of a book you just can’t put down…Get one for your kid’s school, for your local hospital, your boss, yourself…” according to Huffington Post columnist Julia Moulden.
Everyone participates – everyone has a voice – and the message is revolutionary.
The National Film Board of Canada placed media maker Katerina Cizek “in residence” at Toronto’s inner-city St. Michael’s Hospital, renowned for innovation in patient care and research. The result is a collection of multi-platform documentaries that prove digital storytelling can work as a tool for social action. Young, homeless mothers problem-solve through “video bridging.” Community-based care saves lives in southern Africa. Suicide intervention therapy and film animation intertwine. Throughout, doctors, nurses and media makers work together to create transformative tools.
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The 7 Interventions of Filmmaker-in-Residence charts the project’s five-year history, investigating the creative process from within as media makers join doctors, nurses, researchers and patients at the front-lines of urban and global health. Filmmaker-in-Residence is now recognized around the world as a model for social, cinematic and creative innovation.
The Anthology features 2 DVDs and a CD-ROM:
* The 7 Interventions of Filmmaker-in-Residence:
an 80-minute documentary film + special features
* Filmmaker-in-Residence: The films + related special features
The Bicycle, The Interventionists , Hand-held, Drawing From Life
* Filmmaker-in-Residence Web-documentary CD-ROM + resource materials
National Distribution 1-800-267-7710
USA Distribution 1-800-542-2164
International Distribution 1-514-283-9000
Visit our Web site www.nfb.ca info@nfb.ca
July 26th, 2007
We are all in shock. We are all mourning.
Pax Chingawale, our friend, colleague, inspiration and hero of The Bicycle, died yesterday.
Pax was a Malawian AIDS activist, who so kindly — and courageously — invited me into his home and life to make a film about his and Dignitas’ fight against AIDS. I was so moved when he told me of the time he learned about his HIV-status. He said he couldn’t stay quiet for long. He chose to speak out about his condition in the face of great fear, stigma and even hatred amongst his neighbours and friends. With such sadness, he told me that for many months they stigmatized him, but little by little, he earned their trust.
“Every minute of my life is full of HIV activities and I’ve seen a change in many people now. They respect me and they themselves are questioning whether they have HIV/AIDS or not. So there is a very big impact, ” he said.
On our last day together, we had such a blast filming him riding his bicycle around his neighbourhood. I hung out of the back of a van with the camera, as he rode his bike, behind us, then beside us, then behind us again. We were at it for over an hour, trying to co-ordinate the speed of the van with the speed of the bike, while trying to catch the magical light of the African sunset. He had such a wide smile on his face, his neighbours calling out to him, lovingly teasing him and laughing.
Yesterday afternoon, Pax was hit by a truck while he was driving a motorcycle on the highway back towards Domasi, in Zomba, Malawi. He was returning from a meeting with the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Pax was taken to Zomba District Hospital (where Dignitas runs its ARV clinic) but he died several hours later during emergency surgery.
Only a few days ago I had received such a wonderful email from him (please see the blog post just below).
Pax was doing so well. His hard work was only just coming to fruition. He had plans to build a community building right beside his house on his property to better support the 204 orphans and 134 HIV/AIDS patients he and his wife Emmie had taken under their care. He was so happy that he had been recently hired on as staff for Dignitas International.
This is such a terrible loss for so, so many: his wife Emmie, their children and grandchildren, for his community, for Dignitas and for all of us who had come to know his gentle strength and his fierce generosity. May his spirit live on in all of us, and may he continue to inspire us all.
July 26th, 2007
