Tonight’s film, by Spanish documentary filmmakers Gabriela Gutierrez Dewar and Sally Gutierrez Dewar, documents the lives of the 20,000 displaced African refugees in a squatter camp called Freedom Park. It is a place where fifty percent of the women are infected with HIV.
The film explores the Tapologo, a collective of female caregivers who self-organize and treat the hopelessness of their immediate surroundings. Before this network existed, individuals were left alone with their chronic diseases as poverty and pain devoured them. Now these women, many of them diagnosed with HIV themselves, have begun to administer anti-retroviral treatment and provide bedside and hospice care. As a result, a community has begun to form, and with the help of Brother Joe, Sister Georgina, and Bishop Kevin Dowling (Catholic community leaders and activists who share relatively progressive ideology), Tapologo has begun to break Freedom Park’s cycle of poverty and pain.
Taplologo will be introduced by Aissatou Diajhaté, Director of Programmes for The Stephen Lewis Foundation (seen above). Aissatou oversees the grant-making process and leads a team of programme officers who provide technical guidance and support to projects funded by SLF in 15 sub- Saharan African countries. She also manages a team of consultants in Africa who pre-assess potential projects and conduct monitoring and evaluation visits for ongoing projects. Prior to joining SLF, Aissatou worked in Washington DC as the Sr. Associate for Women’s Leadership and Capacity Building at the Centre for Development and Population Activities. She also served as the Director of International Admissions and Enrollment for Suffolk University in Boston, overseeing recruitment processes in 18 different African countries.
Tapologo screens at 7 PM at Jackman Hall, Art Gallery of Ontario. For more information or to purchase tickets, please call the TIFFG Box Office at 416-968-FILM or toll-free 1-877-968-FILM. Tickets can also be purchased online at tiff.net/cinematheque or in person at the theatre.
Taplogo will be followed by a screening of The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo at 9 PM.
