Documentary on Global AIDS Pandemic to be Released Later This Year

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Robert Bilheimer is bringing the global AIDS pandemic to the big screen in a new documentary set to be released later this year, the Kansas City Star reports. Titled "A Closer Walk: Global AIDS and the Human Right to Health," the film features interviews with health officials and HIV-infected individuals in South Africa, Haiti, Uganda, India and the United States. In the United States, Bilheimer focused on the impact of AIDS on Kansas City, which he describes as "the heart" of America. In addition, Bilheimer's segments on the United States will examine how HIV shifted from a disease of "gay white males" to a virus that has hit many other communities that "were discriminated against before AIDS." Production of the film cost $2 million, half of which was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The other half came from other grants. The documentary was produced with UNAIDS and the Global Health Council (Shields, Kansas City Star, 3/20).