Dubai, January 25: It is the story of a strong woman who confronts stigma and discrimination by breaking her silence to claim her basic rights.
“I’m not scared of the disease, I’m scared of you, [people]” quoted forty year-old HIV positive Asmaa, an Egyptian woman whose root is back to a small countryside village.
To cut the long story short, in the Egyptian culture HIV infection is synonymous with committing fornication, although most of people know this is not the only means of infection. This is how stigmatization and isolation of people living with HIV starts.
Movie
Title: Asmaa
Writer and Director: Amr Salama
Stars: Hend Sabry, Maged El-Kedwany, Hany Adel
Language: Arabic
In the movie, due to her disease, Asmaa did not tell her daughter about it; she was forced to leave her job and was denied medical treatment, which was having a gallbladder removal surgery.
Throughout the movie, Asmaa was inquired multiple times on how she was infected with HIV and every time she refused to answer, saying “I don’t have to answer to prove to the world that I’m modest”.
The story is about this simple lady, Asmaa, who is strong enough to confront stigma and discrimination by breaking her silence to claim her basic rights. As the movie depicts her, Asmaa is the only one in her group therapy who got the courage and strength to appear in a famous talk show by her face and name to tell her story to the public opinion and demand her right for medical treatment. Despite her sickness and bad luck, her soul is filled with optimism, love, and sacrifice, much more than an average healthy person.
Everybody’s Story!
As the movie depicts her, Asmaa is the only one in her group therapy who got the courage and strength to appear in a famous talk show by her face and name to tell her story to the public opinion.
“Asmaa” is not a movie about HIV/AIDS disease but rather about the negativity that is close to becoming a norm in the Egyptian culture. It’s a movie about the diseases of the society through a disease of a person.
The idea of the movie started in 2007, when the young scriptwriter and director Amr Salama was asked to make a documentary about HIV/AIDS; the idea became more stressing when Salama attended a meeting arranged by UNAIDS Egypt with a group of people living with the virus. He listened closely to their stories and was touched by their dramatic experiences.
Salama got motivated and concerned to tell the whole world the true story of a woman who lived with HIV/AIDS and died because the big society, her small community, and even her family ignored her right to have a surgery, not because of the virus. He successfully grasped and conveyed the emotional intensity that he had experienced in his movie.
Writing the script was a lengthy journey of exploration that took him four long years. People living with HIV/AIDS were involved in many of the steps in creating this movie, some even acted on screen, and their experiences have inspired and informed the views of the cast. Hend Sabry, the heroine of “Asmaa”, also worked with Salama on writing the script.
Recognition
The movie was screened in “Wahran” film festival in Algeria, London international film festival, “Alkarama” festival in Jordan, Palm Spring festival in California, and Göteborg international film festival.
UNAIDS Egypt organized an event to celebrate the launch of the movie “Asmaa” and awarded the movie makers for their outstanding contribution to the HIV response.
UNAIDS, praised the movie and expects “Asmaa” to significantly contribute to addressing AIDS-related stigma and promoting the rights of people living with HIV for health care, work and living normally.
“Asmaa” was received an award for Best Arab Director in the New Horizons competition at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. Also, Maged El Kedwany received an award for Best Actor at the same festival.
The movie was screened in “Wahran” film festival in Algeria, London international film festival, “Alkarama” festival in Jordan, Palm Spring festival in California, and Göteborg international film festival.
This is the kind of movies that represents post-revolution Egypt.
-Agencies