About Us

The Swedish based non profit Face of AIDS Foundation and the documentary film producer Staffan Hildebrand, has continuously documented global issues related to HIV and AIDS since 1986. The result of the documentation is a unique film archive, consisting of 900 hours of unedited film material and 60 mostly short documentaries, shot by Mr Hildebrand and his film team in 42 countries between 1987 and 2008. The archive is owned by a non profit foundation, Face of AIDS Foundation, which also runs the ongoing documentation process.

The Stockholm-based Karolinska Institute has been an instrumental partner to the project from the very start in 1987. The Institute, who is still the most important partner to the project, is mostly known internationally for deciding on the Nobel Prize in Medicine. The former president of the Karolinska Institute, dr. Hans Wigzell, created the Face of AIDS Foundation and is still in its board as supervisor. Dr. Anders Milton, former president of the Swedish Red Cross, is currently Chair of the Board of the Face of AIDS Foundation. The current president of the Karolinska Institute, dr. Harriet Wallberg- Henriksson, is a strong and active supporter of Face of AIDS.

Vision

The Face of AIDS vision is to develop and complementing its existing film archive into a world leading searchable and edited digital online education, research and information tool to be used in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.

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Strategy

The Face of AIDS project will strive to achieve the following goals:

  • To document key events/activities and interview key persons about the social, economic and cultural impact of the AIDS epidemic on a global scale using Face of AIDS film archive and collaborating with other internationally archived resources
  • To secure and preserve a long-term digital repository of all material collected, in collaboration with a major international academic institution or library.
  • Create a complete process – film/record, classify, secure, standardize, edit, presentation, product and service development and distribution – for the recording and documenting of large cultural or political movements that have social importance
  • To advocate and educate by allowing access and syndication of the edited material in the Face of AIDS film archive as well as developing strong international partnerships and collaborations. With this material, the Face of AIDS will help to create a digital communication platform that will facilitate:
  • The development of a world leading, continuously updated, digital archive of the social, economical and cultural history of the impact of AIDS – the first visual history of any epidemic.
  • The support of the global AIDS response through awareness, advocacy, educational and best practice training films and campaigns. This material will be accessible to a wide circle of partners including NGOs, civil society, educational, scientific partners
  • The research of cultural history material that will be available to accredited journalists, documenters, academic and research partners. The Face of AIDS project is owned and run by a non profit foundation, Face of AIDS Foundation, based at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm.
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Funding

Most of the funding to the Face of AIDS Foundation, during the first period 1986-2006 came from Swedish public sources and private foundations. During 2005-08 Face of AIDS received funding from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Sweden, the Swedish National Bank Foundation, The Swedish Association of Pharmaceuticals, (LIF), The Marcus and Amaila Wallenberg Foundation, Sweden, The National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA, The United Nations Secretariat UNAIDS, International AIDS Society,(IAS) Geneva in Geneva and the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm.

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Film productions 1987 - 2006

The Face of AIDS has produced several of the official opening films to the International AIDS Conferences, among them the opening films to the IV International AIDS Conference in Stockholm 1988 (“Crossover – The Global Impact on AIDS” ) , the V International AIDS Conference in Montreal 1989, (“At Risk – Youth and AIDS” ) the VI International AIDS Conference in San Francisco 1990, (Scientists and Activists) the X International AIDS Conference in Berlin 1993 (“The Economic Impact of AIDS” and the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok in 2004. Except for these films, the Face of AIDS has also produced more than 50 films, many of them for international meetings and workshops and also for international organizations such as International AIDS Society, WHO, UNAIDS, Harvard School of Public Health and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Since January 2006, Face of AIDS has produced 6 major productions. In June 2006, the 30 minute documentary “America and AIDS -a 25 year perspective” was produced as an assignment from dr Anthony Fauci, Director of the federal US National Institute of Infectious Disease, Allergy and AIDS (NIIAD) at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. The film was premiered at a NIH conference in Bethesda to commemorate the first 25 years of AIDS in the US.

The Face of AIDS produced two documentaries to the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, August 2006. One was produced as an assignment from the International AIDS Society (IAS), “ Women and AIDS”, ( 12 minutes) and shown as opening film to the special session on Women and AIDS, led by Melinda Gates from the Gates Foundation and Sheila Johnson from the Black Entertainment Network. The other film, “Stand Up for HIV Prevention” (15 minutes), was shown as opening film to the UNAIDS and Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Sweden satellite session on future prevention strategy. During 2006, the Face of AIDS also produced a special companion DVD to the UNAIDS 2007 World Epidemic Update, containing one main film “Intensifying HIV Prevention” (15 minutes) and also 10 short films, each between 3-5 minutes, highlighting current prevention projects in ten different countries. During 2007, a new DVD was produced for UNAIDS to the World AIDS Day 2007 “World AIDS Update 2007”

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Current production 2008

During 2008, the Face of AIDS produced the opening film “Young Voices on AIDS” to the UNAIDS and Googles “Young Global Leaders Summit”, which was held at the Googles headquarter in Mountain View, California in March 2008.

Currently Face of AIDS together with Mondopop Production is co-producing a historical documentary, highlighting the experiences from all the sixteen International AIDS Conferences, which has been held regularly since the first one in Atlanta in 1985. The production “ Until there is a cure..” is made as an assignment from the International AIDS Society to commeorate their 20th anniversary in 2008. The film will be premiered during the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, August 3-8, 2008.

The Face of AIDS is currently shooting another documentary, “Women at the Frontline”, portraying six young women living with HIV/AIDS and also involved in advocacy and prevention work. This film is produced on an assignment from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Sweden. The film will be premiered during the AIDS Conference.

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Making the archive accessible

Text coming soon...

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Members of the Board

  • Dr. Anders Milton, ex president of the Swedish Red Cross. (chair)
  • Dr. Hans Wigzell, co-founder of the project in 1987, (supervisor).
  • Dr. Carl Johan Sundberg, Investment Director at Karolinska Investment Fund. (secretary)
  • Staffan Hildebrand, co-founder and Creative Director.
  • Johanna Fredriksson, Member of HIV Sweden.
  • Andreas Törnblad, Chief Financial Officer.
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Face of AIDS Staff and Film Team

  • Creative Director

    Staffan Hildebrand, Stockholm

  • Project Supervisor

    David Galipeau, Geneva

  • Chief Financial Officer

    Andreas Törnblad, Stockholm

  • Controller

    Rolf Tenser, Stockholm

  • Auditor

    Johan Amilon, Stockholm

  • Associate Legal Advisor

    Joel Wickman, Stockholm

  • Production Advisor

    Pierre Peyroth, Bangkok

  • Harvard Coordinator

    David Havelick, Harvard School of Public Health

  • Web Editor

    Adam Appel, Stockholm

  • Technical Archive Consultant

    Alex Johnsson, Stockholm

  • Cameraman and Editor

    Mikael Enlund, Stockholm

  • Cameraman

    Max Rangner, Stockholm

  • Reporter and Cameraman

    Samuel Coil, Stockholm

  • Editor and Archivist

    Jimmy Ericsson, Stockholm
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International Advisory Board

  • Dr. Max Essex, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard, USA
  • Dr. Scott Podolsky, Harvard Countway Medical Library
  • Dr. N M Samuel, Chennai University, Tamil Nadu, India
  • Edford McCumba, Youth Vision, Zambia
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Contact

Face of Aids
Box 5064
SE-102 42 Stockholm
SWEDEN

info@faceofaids.org

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