Edkins and his Finnish colleague, Iikka Vehkalahti, set up Steps for the Future in South Africa two years ago. STEPS is an acronym for ‘Social Transformation and Empowerment Projects’, which shows that this isn’t just a non-committal project: "We wanted to get a discussion started."
So they did, with apparent success. The collection of documentaries and short films is now known worldwide. The films have been screened in 110 festivals and broadcasted in many countries.
More importantly, the films have had a considerable impact within southern Africa itself. In all countries of the region they are being used in AIDS education. Weekly broadcasts by the South African T.V. attracted 800,000 viewers. Edkins: "These are high ratings!"
Mobile cinema
The list of locations where the films can have a première screening remains endless. In Mozambican cinemas Steps films are shown together with international films. In areas where no screens are available a van is used as a mobile cinema.
"A mobile cinema has for instance toured Lesotho, accompanied by a number of leading actors. HIV positive actors, that is," Edkins added. "The result is always exciting meetings. Almost everywhere the public say, You are the first HIV-infected person that I have ever met. Which is nonsense, of course, but it shows to what extent the issue is still heavily laden with taboo. It remains hard to find a person who is willing to say in public that he or she is infected with the virus."
Screenings are always followed by a discussion with the audience, led by AIDS educators, called facilitators. "We closely co-operate with local groups." Yet the films are anything but moralising. "We don’t want them to be. It is the stories that are important," Edkins emphasised. "The intention is to provoke a discussion. The showing of a film in which HIV and AIDS play a role works as a starting-point for a discussion on the issue."
A life of its own
Audiences react most strongly to films that are made by their own compatriots. "They sympathise more strongly with stories in a setting familiar to them, with heroes that speak their own language." Edkins emphasised that the films have also been translated into at least 13 languages and dubbed. "We wanted films from different countries. And we have sought to invite filmmakers of both sexes."
NiZA has funded an assessment of the impact of the Steps method. What is the impact of the films in Edkins’s own view? "They set off a chain reaction. Children, for instance township kids in Alexandra, watch the film at school and tell their parents about it." And that is how it should be, according to him: "It is important that it is going to take on a life of its own."
The government is very much involved on a local level, Edkins stated. "On a higher level the government adopt a neutral attitude. They don’t throw any obstacles in our way, yet they refuse to fund the project." Steps, therefore, works primarily with local groups and international donors.
"We are doing everything to extend the range of the films. A number of units are always on the road simultaneously." Nevertheless it takes up much time and effort to reach the public. "Contacts have been established in Botswana, while in Mozambique the first attempts to start a co-operation have been made a year and a half ago. In Namibia things have started to work out well to some extent. Local AIDS support groups are doing their utmost; the problem is rather bureaucracy, which is the greatest stumbling block to the fight against AIDS."
Breakthrough
The 36 films were made three years ago, by well-known as well as debutant filmmakers. For some among the first-time directors their participation in the Steps project has meant their breaking through as filmmakers. The Zambian, Sampa Kangwa, is now shooting a documentary on the so-called ‘date-rape’ phenomenon.
The video films haven’t lost their topicality over the last three years; yet Edkins has moved on. "AIDS is going to stay with us. I myself don’t know of any new issues related to AIDS that would demand a new series of films. But there are new subjects. The South African Broadcasting Corporation will soon broadcast a number of films on one decade of democracy. Though they are not Steps films, they have fittingly followed the Steps concept of combining training with production and distribution"
www.steps.co.za
The films can be watched at NiZA’s information- and documentary centre BIDOC.
