Last year I applied for a grant to continue making films for Dr. Rachel Vreeman’s HADITHI study (see my earlier post on Shahidi). The grant was an internal $50,000 grant called New Frontiers in Arts and Humanities. The proposal was to create a series of short narrative films—totaling around 80 minutes—that address issues of HIV stigma.
This time, instead of using actors to recite monologues to the camera (which is what I did for the original HADITHI films), I wanted to create actual narrative films that were excellent films in their own right and could be used in counseling to help adolescents deal with issues of stigma.
Well, apparently the reviewers thought the application was too medical and not art/humanities enough. I made the mistake of assuming that mentioning the making of narrative films was automatically understood to be art/humanities.
Trying Again
The deadline for that same grant is rolling around again on October 15th, and we recently decided to go for it again. We reviewed the feedback and came up with a plan to address the concerns. In fact, most of my weekend was taken up writing the proposal with Emily Potts, a new grad student of Rachel’s. This time around we’re more than just emphasizing the art/humanities aspect in the application—we’ve taken a new approach.
A New Collaborator and a Participatory Framework
I now have a Co-PI from the Department of Anthropology, Dr. Jeanette Dickerson-Putman, who has done research in Kenya with the Nandi and co-founded the Social Science Research Network in 2007 as an effort to increase internationalization of higher education and collaboration.
After initial discussions with her about what we were proposing and what her possible role would be, we started discussing how we could make the creative aspects of the filmmaking process more participatory. When I teach Video for Social Change, I use the texts of Bill Nichols, who writes about the various modes of documentary making—participatory being one that emerged in the 1960s when ethnographic filmmakers started breaking down the filmmaking construct that exists between filmmaker and subject.
We had a great discussion. Since then, I’ve made contact with Dr. CJ Odhiambo, head of the Department of Theater, Literature and Film Studies at Moi University in Kenya, and I’ve established the foundations for collaboration with staff and students there. We’re also discussing ways to reach out to and involve others in the community who have an interest in reshaping cultural attitudes toward those with HIV.
It is our hope that creative considerations—such as character development, stories, and structuring strategies—as well as practical considerations like actors, locations, and shooting schedules, will be developed through this participatory framework. The resulting films, made with the support of the community and exhibiting a diverse mix of viewpoints and sensibilities, will more accurately reflect issues regarding stigma in terms of community values, spiritual beliefs, ethnic identity, and gender roles.
Actors with HIV: A Narrative/Documentary Hybrid
The possibility of having the roles of HIV patients be played by actors with HIV is one particularly powerful notion that I’m strongly in favor of. Not only would their own personal experiences regarding HIV stigma inform the portrayal of their characters, it would also open up the filmmaking possibilities to include elements of documentary.
The camera could accompany the actors to capture non-fiction segments, or the films could feature moments where they break the fourth wall and address the camera directly, speaking from actual experience rather than reciting an actor’s monologue. This narrative/documentary hybrid lends a degree of authenticity as it pushes the form of narrative film itself.
And the grant is looking for projects that push the boundaries of their practice. Hopefully the narrative/documentary form of these films—and the international participatory collaboration to produce films that work as powerful narrative medicine in counseling and help reshape cultural attitudes when screened in schools and churches in Kenya and beyond—will appeal to the reviewers this time around.
Update: We Got the Grant (February 2015)
I haven’t had much time to write lately because I’ve been busy virtually every waking moment this semester. Getting a grant means my already packed life somehow has to fit even more items, and apparently blog writing is one of those things that gets put on the back burner.
The HADITHI HIV stigma films I’m creating with the IU New Frontiers grant are progressing. We’ve had regular international meetings with the HADITHI team and counselors in Eldoret over the last six or seven weeks. In the last week we had Skype calls with my collaborators at Moi University—CJ Odhiambo and Emma Ngare—as well as about ten of their writing students.
Developing the Stories
As part of the development process, I’ve been writing a series of film ideas. I think of these ideas as writing prompts—at this point they’re loose frameworks for more complex stories. They’re going to be presented to film, theater, and creative writing students at Moi University in Eldoret next week.
The plan is that the students will develop any or all of these ideas into more fleshed-out stories, which will then come back to our local team to be reviewed, revised, and possibly combined with elements of other film ideas. Then we’ll select the ones that rise to the top to be developed into scripts. The scriptwriting will be an iterative process, back and forth between stakeholders in Kenya and our local team.
Heading to Kenya for Interviews
My Co-PI on the project, Jeanette Dickerson-Putman, an anthropologist at IUPUI’s School of Liberal Arts, and the HADITHI study coordinator based in Indianapolis, Carole McAteer, will be heading to Kenya this week. They’ll be working with the staff there over the next two weeks to coordinate and interview at least ten HIV-positive adolescents as well as an assortment of about ten or more community members.
We’re looking for HIV stigma stories as well as learning about opinions, values, and practices regarding HIV that can be incorporated into the scripts. Once they return to the US, we’ll be developing that material into more writing prompts that will in turn go to the Moi University students.
So things are in full swing now—and will be swinging even fuller in April. My fingers are crossed that they come back with good stories, as these scripts need to be finished by the end of April. There is not much time.