Sam Kauffmann’s Living with Slim wins at Woods Hole Film Festival
Sam Kauffmann's AIDS film Living with Slim strikes a chord at Woods Hole festival
Living with Slim, COM Associate Professor Sam Kauffmann’s 29-minute film about Ugandan children living with HIV, won the audience award for best documentary short at the Woods Hole Film Festival in Woods Hole, Mass., in early August. Kauffmann made Living with Slim last year while in Uganda on a Fulbright Lecture and Research Award. Working closely with doctors and AIDS counselors at the government-run Mulago Hospital, he interviewed several children who had contracted HIV at birth, inviting them to discuss their health, their family, their friendships, and their hopes for the future.
The Ugandan Ministry of Health purchased 400 copies of the film to show at prenatal clinics around the country. In addition, after seeing the film, the director of the Mulago Hospital ordered antiretroviral treatments for all children profiled; previously some had not been receiving HIV drugs because their families could not afford it.
This spring, Living with Slim won best documentary short at the CINE Golden Eagle Film and Video Competition. It will screen at the United Nations Association Film Festival, which visits BU and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government September 24 and 25.