Shining a spotlight on HIV/AIDS

Golden Panthers Tiffany Parkes '07 (left) and Jillian Simms '08 traveled to South Africa to learn about HIV/AIDS.

“Lessons from South Africa” is a film produced by Allan Richards, interim associate dean and associate professor of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and Golden Panthers Jillian Simms ’08 and Tiffany Parkes ’07.

It will be shown on Sunday, Oct. 25, at 11:45 a.m., at Cinema Paradiso during the 24^th Annual Fort Lauderdale Film Festival.

“Lessons from South Africa” started as a class project two years ago when Richards tasked the students of his multimedia journalism class with developing a Web site about HIV/AIDS.

At the end of the Spring 2008 semester, he traveled with Simms and Parkes to South Africa, the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, to witness and capture first-hand the experience of those living with the virus.

They returned with a different story than they expected – one that oftentimes goes underreported by American or Western journalists – which they shared with FIU Magazine.

On a related note, WPBT2 will air a one-hour special titled “Tell Somebody: The New Face of HIV/AIDS” on Thursday, Oct. 15 at 10 p.m. That project also includes the work of Richards and his students.