The Positive Ladies Soccer Club

Joanna (she recently came back from Zimbabwe where she was a Field Communications Officer for MSF), has directed a film.

It's called "The Positive Ladies Soccer Club" (link goes to the movie's site).

Joanna's film offers a message of hope.

It's about IHV positive women who, despite barely knowing how to play football, not only decided to form a team but set themselves the goal to win the local tournament's championship. They go on to the final ...

David Williams of Sky News Online has written an article about it (be sure to watch the video of her interview).

Excerpt:
"... The action plays out across a rich palette of colours and to a soundtrack of African communal singing performed by the women themselves.

'When I met them, the first thing they did was sing to me," Joanna recalled. "They sang a song about being strong and having hope.'

Filmed on a shoestring budget, the project was blessed by generosity: from the unpaid players whose heart-rendering interviews carry the film's emotional message, to the end of production when film giant Technicolor waived a fee for its services.

Joanna said the filming - which was welcomed by the country's authorities due to MSF's apolitical role - has had a dramatic effect on attitudes among the community.

"People would previously shout at our women. If they were on a bus they wouldn't sit next to them," she said.

"Now, after they saw them playing in this football team and winning, people would come up to the women as if they were movie stars..."

Trailer:


Screened on the 15th of November at the Bath Film Festival , it will be shown on World AIDS Day, 1st December 2009 in Athens, at the Hellenic American Union (22 Massalias st., Athens).

(Update: it was also featured on CNN)