This is an excerpt from a 45-minute documentary about four women living with HIV in Canada and their intersections with a controversial law that criminalizes HIV positive people for not disclosing their status to sexual partners. The film analyses how criminalization impacts positive women who are trying to live their lives in the shadow of stigma, discrimination and fear and how this law puts them at further risk. I held several key roles in this production including producer/ writer/director. I was also a camera operator and sound recordist in the submitted excerpt. The film was commissioned by The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and highlights my passion and interests in tackling social justice issues in film.

Positive Women: Exposing Injustice

Positive Women: Exposing Injustice is a 45-minute documentary film that tells the personal stories of four women living with HIV in Canada; a Quebecker who was charged for not telling her partner that she had HIV at the beginning of an ultimately abusive relationship, a young woman who chose not to pursue charges against the man who infected her, an Aboriginal woman who has personally faced extreme stigma and threats, and a Latina woman who describes the challenges of disclosure and intimate relationships for women living with HIV. Their stories are real, raw and from the heart. They tell the truth about what it’s like to live in a society that all-too-often criminalizes intimate behaviour between consenting adults and discriminates against those living with HIV. Legal experts, doctors, counsellors and support workers also lend their voices to challenge current Canadian laws that are letting down the very women they are meant to protect.

PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY ALISON DUKE
DIRECTORS OF CINEMATOGRAPHY KIM DERKO & ROBIN BAIN
CAMERA BY SEAN BLACK & RICHARD CHONG
COMPOSER AND SOUND MIXING DEREK BRIN
EDITOR EUGENE WEIS
CO-PRODUCERS JANET BUTLER-MCPHEE, CÉCILE KAZATCHKINE & ALISON SYMINGTON
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER CANADIAN HIV/AIDS LEGAL NETWORK

PositiveWomentheMovie.org

Positive Women: Exposing Injustice

Project: Under Gardiner