Tapologo selected for Document7, Glasgow

Screening at:
The Molky Way Friday 23 October @12 noon

http://www.potatoscone.com/doc7/doc7.html

The 6th EBS International Documentary Film festival, Seoul.

21st to 28th of september Broadcasting Schedule	2009-09-22 22:15
Screening Schedule	EBS Space 2009-09-25 13:50 Arthouse Momo 2009-09-22 16:30 Arthouse Momo (2nd) 2009-09-23 12:30

You may find more info at eidf.co.kr.

NEW SCREENINGS!

During this summer TAPOLOGO has been screened in:

HUMANITY EXPLORED FILM FESTIVAL; INDIA
ZANZIBAR INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
UN FILM PER LA PACE
FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DEL NORTE DE CHILE
CONFERENCE ON MIGRATION AND GLOBALIZATION; AGAPE


NEXT FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS:

FESTIVAL DE CINE DE MADRID PNR
http://www.festivalcinepnr.com/

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL - GREECE FILM FESTIVAL
http://www.amnesty.org.gr/

INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL, EIDF, SEOUL, competitve section http://www.eidf.org/2009/eng/index.php

BEARING EXQUISITE WITNESS ARTS FESTIVAL, SAN DIEGO http://www.sandiego.edu/peacestudies/ipj/programs/women_peace_makers/conferences/bearing_exquisite_witness/

INTERNATIONAL BLACK DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL, ATLANTA http://www.internationalblackdocufest.com/

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH TRAVELING FILM FESTIVAL http://www.hrw.org/en/iff/traveling-festival

DOCUPOLIS, BARCELONA, Sección a concurso, www.docupolis.org

FESTIVAL DE CINE DE PAMPLONA Sección a concurso www.festivalcinepamplona.com

PELIKULA; SPANISH FILM FESTIVAL, MANILA http://www.pelicula.ph/

FESTIVAL DE CINE "GÉNERO, DIVERSIDAD Y MESTIZAJE" MADRID
http://www.diversidadculturalymestizaje.es/

TAPOLOGO selected for Docupolis, Barcelona

DOCUPOLIS 2009
IX FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DOCUMENTAL DE BARCELONA
www.docupolis.org

“Tapologo ” ha sido seleccionado para concursar en la categoría MEJOR DOCUMENTAL del Concurso Internacional. El festival se celebrará entre el 29 de
septiembre y el 4 de octubre en el Centre de Cultura Contemporánea de
Barcelona. (CCCB)

Feminist review, TAPOLOGO

http://feministreview.blogspot.com/2009/06/tapologo.html

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Tapologo

Directed by Gabriella and Sally Gutierrez Dewar

Tapologo is a full-length documentary shot in Northwest Province, South Africa. Directors Gabriella and Sally Gutierrez Dewar chronicle a handful of the 20,000 displaced African refugees in a squatter camp called Freedom Park. Here we are exposed to life and death in a place where fifty percent of the women are infected with HIV.

The film is divided into two parts. Part one opens inside the shack of an emaciated woman receiving care from two local nurses. The woman is dying from Tuberculosis, and for a moment she glances directly into the camera lens with brown eyes that appear to have lost all innocence and hope. As we get to know other patients and nurses who inhabit the park, we see that most of the women have slept with men for money, many have contracted HIV, yet only some are receiving anti-retroviral treatment. All of them are either dying or fighting to survive. Personal accounts from the women are interlaced with stunning visual images that are both emotional and relevant, and the intensity never lets up.

The second part begins with desolate music by Joel Assaizky and shots of people walking across train tracks, sitting on sides of roads, just standing around watching each other. This time is spent contextualizing the squalor of Freedom Park in the apartheid aftermath. In a place where the alternative to starvation is sexual exploitation, it’s impossible to ignore the political history.

Then we learn about 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 strong 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, patriarchy and an overall loss of dignity.

One scene in particular illustrates the spirit of this film. A nurse named Thembi (a former sex-worker and HIV victim) pays a visit to the shack of a helpless woman and her infant. She says confidently, "Filth can make the illness worse," and begins to wash dishes and floors on her hands and knees. For Thembi and others, volunteering with Tapologo gave them a chance to believe in themselves, to find beauty within, and to be proud of life's small victories. This moment, and this film, is a great reminder to step out of our daily comforts and confront real issues facing real women.

Review by Katy Pine

TAPOLOGO selected for the 12th INTERNATIONAL ZANZIBAR FILM FESTIVAL

ZIFF is a non-governmental, non-partisan, non-profit organization established in 1997 in Zanzibar. It is a unique initiative for the sustained preservation and development of the region's rich cultural heritage and the work of contemporary artists. ZIFF's main activity is the organisation of the annual Festival of the Dhow Countries that takes place around the first two weeks of July.
Vision: ZIFF aims to make Zanzibar the focal point for promoting Dhow culture through films and other media.

Village Voice - Truth and Tragedy at "Human Rights Watch 2009" Festival

VILLAGE VOICE

Truth and Tragedy at "Human Rights Watch 2009" Festival

By Ed Gonzalez

Tuesday, June 9th 2009 at 1:53pm

Human Rights Watch International Film Festival
June 11 through 25
Walter Reade Theater

EXCERPT from the article:

The focus of Tapologo's equally enraged lens is the manner in which deeply ingrained patriarchal attitudes drive South Africa's HIV pandemic. Filmmakers Gabriela and Sally Gutiérrez Dewar peer into the wounded heart of a region where 50 percent of women are infected with HIV and a courageous network known as Tapologo tries to bring dignity to lives that have known none. The pain these women feel as their bodies increasingly betray them is brutal, but what lingers most is the documentary's stinging indictment of the Catholic Church's stance on AIDS and sexuality, ironically communicated via the heartache and fury felt by one of the church's foot soldiers: a bishop working closely with Tapologo.