Whisper not the Movie... at a cinema near you very soon!

Posted by giles in News

16 Openly Positive authors: out, proud and en masse!

Openly Positive now has a DVD! It’s a co-production with STEPS, a regional project using film to communicate social issues around HIV. It’s essentially an education tool, expanding on the stories we tell in our books. The author interviews on our site come from it.

And now, if you’re in Cape Town or Johannesburg, you can see it as part of the next week-long Out in Africa Film Festival (www.oia.co.za), which runs from Wednesday October 19th in Johannesburg and Thursday October 20th in Cape Town.

Whisper not - the Movie is being shown in Johannesburg at the Nu Metro Hyde Park on Sunday 23rd October at 6pm. In Cape Town, the date’s Saturday October 29th at 6.30pm at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront Nu Metro. Why not try and catch it? There’ll be author panel Q&A sessions after each showing: we’d love to hear your views. 

This is what you’ll find in the programme and on the Out in Africa website (www.oia.co.za/films/whisper-not), although we do have to warn you that it’s not as pornographic as they make it sound…!!

“Made to expand on Openly Positive’s recently published book of short stories of the same name, Whisper not is a documentary about the people whose stories about life with and beyond HIV feature in the collection. As the title suggests, the book and the film are all about speaking up – no whispers, just great tales of love, lust, sex, triumph, fun, laughter and change. Or, as Openly Positive’s Derrick Fine says, ‘the four Ls – life, love, laughter and longevity.’

There are 15 authors in the book and 14 of them share their stories in the film; an all-inclusive crew of men, women, straight, gay, black, white, young and old from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi and the DRC. There’s 85 year-old Jan de Groot and his struggle to tell his girlfriend, and Ann Ray Ray, still married – and in love – despite her husband’s unfaithfulness. Or Christo Greyling, who had two HIV negative children — after contracting HIV. And Nomfundo Xotyeni, a lesbian out to slay the belief that lesbians, especially black lesbians, are immune to HIV.

And the best bit? Go order the book and read the words of the people you’ve now met.”

Our lesbigay authors at the Cape Town launch (l to r): Jean-Claude, Nomfundo, Zanele, Mthoko and Richard.