HIV survivors consider ‘Getting to Zero’ in new documentary
What do they even mean? Ending the HIV epidemic how, you might wonder. And for whom?Those questions are explored in very personal terms in a new documentary, HIV and the Journey Toward Zero.
The documentary is produced by Tessa Films and, surprisingly, by the Chicago Department of Health andsponsored by The Reunion Project.Note: The producers encourage you to host a screening of HIV and the Journey Toward Zero in your own community.
It’s free: This link allows you to submit a request for it, and the Chicago Department of Health has even developed a handy screening guide to help you with your event.“The drive behind producing this documentary came from multiple conversations with friends and colleagues who talked about what getting to zero meant for them,” said David Kern, Deputy Commissioner at the Chicago Health Department. “Ending the epidemic means very different things to different people.”Officially, most cities define “ending the HIV epidemic” as there being no new HIV transmissions and everyone living with HIV having access to effective treatment.
Considering the setbacks public health agencies experienced during the COVID pandemic, that feels like a tall order.On the faces of the long-term survivors profiled in HIV and the Journey Towards Zero, the epidemic coming to an end means something else entirely. “If I am still living with HIV, the epidemic isn’t over,” one survivor says. “Until there is a cure, the epidemic isn’t over.”In fact, the documentary really leans into the journey of HIV, knowing, wisely, that we can’t speak about ending something without exploring what the hell happened to us and to our community in the first place.
