Non-Profit Gives AIDS Footage to Harvard

An organization that aims to raise AIDS awareness has donated over 500 hours of film footage to Harvard, endowing the University with the largest collection of HIV/AIDS footage in the world.

The Swedish-based Face of AIDS Foundation has released its archives to Harvard to increase its accessibility, according to founder and creative director Staffan Hildebrand.

“These archives should not be owned, they should be free,” Hildebrand said yesterday. “We want to start to digitize it to make it more available, but we need a partner to do this. So we approached Harvard.”

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the disease’s discovery, as well as the 10th anniversary of antiretroviral therapy.

Hildebrand has documented the HIV/AIDS epidemic worldwide for around 20 years, a task that has taken him to 39 countries and produced 23 documentaries about AIDS, the filmmaker said yesterday.

Dr. Paul E. Farmer, Presley Professor of Medical Anthropology at the Medical School and the founder of the Boston-based Partners in Health, an organization that offers health care to the poor, said that the donation would equip the university with “information on the history of a modern epidemic.”

The personal nature of the film interviews makes the archives one of the most important and modern mediums for distributing this information about AIDS, Farmer said.

“This is really the raw material for history,” Farmer said.

Hildebrand has been in talks with the Harvard Foundation for Race and Intercultural Relations and Harvard Initiative for Global Health (HIGH) to facilitate this donation, Allen S. Counter, director of the Foundation, said yesterday.

The footage is “enlightening without being offensive” and “simply incredible to see,” Counter said.

The Foundation sponsors an annual AIDS-related event. Last year, the Harvard Foundation recognized Sharon Stone for her work with the American Foundation for AIDS Research Campaign.

A highlight reel from the “The Face of AIDS” documentary and the featurette “Global Youth Fighting HIV/AIDS” were screened last night in Harvard Hall to mark the donation. Over 140 students, faculty, and community members filled the room.

HAC co-sponsored the event along with the Foundation, Harvard College International Development Organization (HIDO), and HIGH.

Hildebrand suggested that students work with Harvard to develop a curriculum based on the footage. Such a collaboration would encourage student involvement with AIDS activism, Hildebrand said.

Farmer also encouraged students to become involved. “This is your generation. Figure it out.” Farmer said. “Don’t ask me. I’m just a doctor.”