‘Kids Living with Slim’ recognized by Al Jazeera
Film Professor Sam Kauffmann attended the 7th Annual Al Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival in Doha, Qatar, where he screened his most recent film, Kids Living with Slim.
The film follows seven African children who are HIV positive (the word “slim” is slang for HIV/AIDS). Al Jazeera festival organizers had seen the film at the Zanzibar International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Sembene Ousmane Award, and they invited him to screen it at their festival.
“When someone offers you an all-expenses paid trip to a country you’ve heard lots about, but have never visited, it’s hard to resist,” said Kauffmann. “Plus, I really admire the excellent news coverage that the Al Jazeera network has recently produced about the huge changes in the Middle East—far more in-depth than our own networks—so this was a great opportunity to get to know the people who run Al Jazeera.”
Kauffmann points out that Qatar was recently awarded the 2022 Soccer World Cup.
“People who follow big-time soccer—football to the rest of the world—were shocked that a small country like Qatar could host such a huge sporting event, but now that I’ve been there, I have no doubt it’ll be spectacular," he said.
