Film Project

In the summer of 2001 GEP Director of Media Development, Kaz Phillips, took a professional film crew to Ghana to create an educational documentary about HIV/AIDS to be used as a supplement to the GEP's pre-standing AIDS Awareness efforts. Understanding the alienating effect of Western voices in this quintessentially African problem, the film sought to combine the artistic and technological know-how of an invisible American production team with the honesty and candor of an otherwise totally Ghanaian production. The result is "HIV/AIDS: TheGhanalogue."


In Ghana, the problem with HIV/AIDS is not one of ignorance, but one of silence. Fear and the threat of social stigma keep people quiet providing a fertile breeding ground for a disease that thrives on secrecy and lack of communication. By initiating a dialogue between Ghanaians-a Ghanalogue-the film crew sought to create an open forum for the discussion by Ghanaians, for Ghanaians, of sex, sexuality and the human immunodeficiency virus. In the stories of these men and women one sees the crux of the problem, but also, in their desire to speak out, and their uncanny understanding of the complex and quintessentially African factors that promote the spread of the virus, one sees the possibility for change initiated not by any one group or individual, but by a broadened collective understanding of the issue based on open discussion, social awareness and the desire for a better tomorrow.


The film returned to Ghana in the summer of 2002 where it was shown at secondary and technical schools in the Central Region, as well as private screenings in Accra. "HIV/AIDS: The Ghanalogue" is slated for broadcast on Ghana Television. Copies of the film can be purchased for $15 by contacting whitman@ghanaeducation.org.


The next GEP documentary, a collaboration with fellow youth-run non-profit Conscious Movements Collective is slated for production during the summer of 2003.