“PASSING THE TORCH” is a documentary about the human faces behind the story of HIV and AIDS, and about the filmmaker who documented it all. Across three decades, Swedish director Staffan Hildebrand has witnessed this dramatic story unfold through the individuals affected by it and changing its course: people living with HIV and AIDS, activists, scientists, doctors, artists, celebrities and influential opinion leaders worldwide.
Hildebrand’s documentation has yielded over 800 hours of raw footage, interviews, and reports, shot in 50 countries, and all of it has been compiled into a unique research archive at the Stockholm-based Karolinska Institutet University Library, called the Face of AIDS Film Archive.
Select, never-before-seen footage from this archive make up the core of this new film, which also features Hildebrand’s meetings with young HIV activists who are taking up the torch passed on from the first generation of influential pioneers and grassroots activists, many of whom Hildebrand will revisit 15-to-30 years after he first filmed them to discuss the waves of activism, lessons learned from history, future challenges, and what can be done about the threats facing the fight against HIV and AIDS.
The world has changed in the last few years and became much more polarized. The rise of nationalism, right-wing populism, homophobia, and intolerance currently pose serious threats to the continued progress to fight HIV and AIDS with the goal of ending HIV in the near future. The Face of AIDS Film Archive is Hildebrand’s legacy, and the film “Passing the torch” is his way to remind the world about the challenges ahead of us. We need a new generation of HIV activists getting involved, taking up the torch from the older pioneers. The fight against HIV and AIDS must continue!
DIRECTOR
Staffan Hildebrand
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Johan Skog
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Tobias Bringholm, Scott de Mercado, Adam Nordin
PRODUCERS
Tobias Bringholm, Pelle Ohrgren, Helene Adler
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS
Mats Ahnlund, Bill Bowtell
ADVISORY GROUP
Sharon Lewin – Doherty Institute, Melbourne
Richard Burzynski – UNAIDS, Geneva
Fredrik Persson – Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm
To get an overview of Staffan Hildebrand’s unique film archive, visit faceofaids.ki.se.