Dancing on the Edge

From the Summary

"This documentary is set in rural Mozambique, where a mother struggles with the contradictions of maintaining traditional customs while adapting to the reality of modern challenges. Anotonietta is HIV positive and works as an AIDS counselor in the city. Accompanied by her neighbour, she takes her daughter to a remote village for initiation into sexuality. After a week of rituals and lessons on how to please a man, the girl will become a woman and consequently risk contracting HIV.

This film portrays the tough world of rural Mozambique, where gender roles and poverty influence the fight to contain the spread of AIDS. Here is a story of a modern African woman who struggles in herself between the knowledge of a modern disease and the traditional rules of female behavior. This narrative documentary follows two parallel journeys, a young girl moving towards life as an adult, and a young woman moving towards her premature death.

The experiences during these journeys are viewed from the mother and child's two different perspectives. The culture of silence and denial is profound in Mozambique. Throughout Antonietta's journey she recognises, as an insider still learning about AIDS, that she can help, inform and influence others."

Produced by: Catembe Productions

Date of production: 2002

Length: 40 mins

Contact:

Don Edkins

Day Zero Film & Video

tel: +27 21 42 42 970

P.O. Box 21545

Kloof Str. 8008

Cape Town, South Africa

don@dayzero.co.za

Day Zero website