Positive Youth

Positive Youth is a one hour television documentary which follows four HIV+ positive youth (late teens to 27) in four different N. American cities in Cinema vérité style. Growing up in the 1980s and 90s we were hammered with terrifying statistics of HIV/AIDS. Thirty years in, we are still learning. What education do youth receive now and why is the youth transmission rate still the highest? We have seen retrospective documentaries on the AIDS crisis and interviews with survivors but what about the positive youth of today? We aim to feature accessible and inspirational individuals and the often-rocky road that they've traveled to get here. Each of the four subjects have been selected to create a dynamic perspective on the reality of living positive today. Medical and psychological experts weigh in to provide up-to-date facts and a historical context to the reality of living positively. In life we are inherently afraid of the unknown: of death. Our film will show this in action by exploring the social stigma these young people must rise above each day. The main conflict lies with our audience. We intend to have our subjects, and our audience answer difficult questions about their own level of discrimination when it comes to HIV/AIDS. Ultimately we want the audience to feel educated with a new sense of empathy and understanding for positive people. Vancouver, Toronto, Phoenix, New York, Victoria - straight 18-year-old First Nations woman, gay 25-year-old white urbanite, 23-year-old jet-setting entertainer, black 22-year-old man searching for work and health insurance. HIV does not discriminate. For the first time, young positive people open their homes and hearts to us - offering a no holds barred access into their lives.