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Life & Times Transcript
06/22/06 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- The face of HIV has changed in the past decade. Is it time for policy to catch up? Dr. Felix Carpio>> Because women are not part of the high-risk category unless they use drugs, then they sometimes are turned away from facilities that provide HIV testing free of cost. Val Zavala>> And then, films with heart and soul delivered to your door. Will it catch on? It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> Would you believe that, in Los Angeles County, the number one cause of death among black women in their twenties, thirties and forties is AIDS? And on top of that, blacks and Latino women get diagnosed with AIDS much later into the disease than others. Part of the problem is AIDS coming out of our prisons. Toni Guinyard has the story of one HIV-positive woman whose story is all too typical. Precious Jackson>> Whatever I can do, whatever I can say to help another woman not to walk in the shoes that I'm walking in, I will do it. Toni Guinyard>> Precious Jackson is HIV-positive. She received the diagnosis in 1998. Precious Jackson>> My head dropped and I was like, um, I'm another black woman and I'm another statistic. Toni Guinyard>> Jackson is part of an alarming statistic in a health care arena where a person's chance of contracting HIV is categorized by behavioral risk factors. Alicia Avalos>> Men who have sex with men, men who have sex with men and women, IDU which is intravenous drug user, and women at sexual risk. Toni Guinyard>> Forty to sixty percent of African American and Latino women in Los Angeles County who tested positive for HIV reported no risky sexual behavior. Alicia Avalos is Project Director of Women-Alive Coalition. Alicia Avalos>> The women that come through our doors are women that had been married for years, women that were virgins that for the first time once they got married and had sex, got infected by their husbands, got infected by their boyfriends. >> "So then you were talking about a position paper, our position statement. Which do you think is the most appropriate way to start?" Toni Guinyard>> To say health care advocates in Los Angeles County's Latino and African American communities are frustrated is an understatement. They meet, they talk, they strategize to come up with ways to connect with the women who may be at risk and not even know it, and they've made a connection between the increased number of HIV cases among women previously believed to be at low risk and men who have been in prison. Tony Wafford>> We ain't saying he's been having sex. We ain't indicting him for having sex with other men, but we are saying that he's living in a high-risk environment. >> "If you're really sincere about the black community being responsible for stopping and understanding this epidemic in our community, then we have to be at the lead." Toni Guinyard>> Tony Wafford is the Project and Program Director for The Palms Residential Care Center, a facility that houses men and women who are indigent and HIV-positive. Tony Wafford>> We have over, what, two million people in the state and federal penitentiaries across this country. More people in prisons incarcerated in the United States than anywhere else in the world. Half of those people in prison look like me. Half of those people in prison are coming out and coming to our communities. Black women have a small pool to draw from. We don't think about that part. Alicia Avalos>> Most incarcerated men, while incarcerated, engage in risky behaviors whether it be sexual behavior using different tools for haircutting, sharing different needles, sharing tattooing items as well, and are becoming infected. Toni Guinyard>> And then they're released back into the community, back to their wives and girlfriends, putting them at risk. Alicia Avalos>> He comes out and one of the first things people do when they come out is they want to have sex. Toni Guinyard>> Proposed legislation that called for testing of inmates upon release from California prisons was shelved in part after some advocates argued that it was a violation of prisoners' rights and that they should be screened at entry to ensure, if they tested positive, they would receive treatment behind bars. Alicia Avalos>> With that adding of testing upon entry, the bill ended up being over a hundred fifty thousand dollars. If it's over a hundred fifty thousand dollars for the state, it's automatically suspended. Toni Guinyard>> Controversy over the bill served one purpose. Tony Wafford>> It created a dialogue where there wasn't a dialogue. Toni Guinyard>> For Precious Jackson, the bill represented a small but crucial step towards changing policy. She believes her former boyfriend contracted HIV while he was in prison. Precious Jackson>> He has a history of being in and out of jail all of his life and I do believe he might have gotten it while he was incarcerated at some point in time in his life. Toni Guinyard>> Rather than focus on where or when or how he contracted HIV, Jackson is more concerned about educating other women. She's literally become the poster child for HIV. She's working at Women-Alive Coalition where her image and her message are prominently displayed just steps inside the door and she warns other women not to think as she once thought. Precious Jackson>> I needed this man and I didn't want to stand in the way or say anything that could stand the chance of me losing him. Toni Guinyard>> Dr. Felix Carpio is the Associate Medical Director for HIV Services at AltaMed Health Services. AltaMed treats sixteen hundred HIV and AIDS patients, both men and women. Dr. Carpio says the county health care system emphasizes testing people who fall into so-called high-risk behavioral groups. Dr. Felix Carpio>> But because women are not part of the high-risk category unless they use drugs, then they sometimes are turned away from facilities that provide HIV testing free of cost, so they have to go to their doctors to be tested if they want to. Toni Guinyard>> What needs to be changed? Dr. Felix Carpio>> Well, I think the policy needs to be changed. Luis Lopez>> We're not focusing on them to try to get them into testing because they're not perceived as a population at risk. Toni Guinyard>> Luis Lopez is AltaMed's Director of HIV Policy. Luis Lopez>> The HIV epidemic in the county of Los Angeles, and to a large degree across the state and across the country, is really evolved from a disease that was largely known as a gay white man's disease to a disease that's now concentrated in communities of color. Alicia Avalos>> But along with that change, the system hasn't changed. Toni Guinyard>> And that's one source of conflict among advocates of the HIV and AIDS communities. Tony Wafford>> Now if it's all about just taking care of people, well, then you would think that the gay white boy who controls all the resources would make sure that some of those resources trickle down here to South Central, right? Well, you would think, wouldn't you? I would. You don't see that happening. Toni Guinyard>> Wafford is outspoken, uncensored and angry. Tony Wafford>> Did you know that most women, black women especially, of a higher socio-economic scale are getting infected at a greater rate than poor, white and Latino ones? So we ain't talking about dumb women. We're talking about petite bourgeoisie negro. Those are the ones that are really getting infected right now. Somehow they seem to think that they're different than other black people, but they're catching hell right now in terms of HIV infection. Toni Guinyard>> Wafford likes to say that he says what others only think. Tony Wafford>> We are so busy trying to be politically correct. See, black people have to do this thing differently. We can't do it like white people do. That's why we're dying. Alicia Avalos>> I was raised within the Latino community. You don't talk about sex. If parents talk to their children about sex, there's a belief that you're promoting sex. Toni Guinyard>> And it means taking a different approach to HIV and AIDS education in different ethnic communities. It also means having an honest conversation about sex. Precious Jackson>> Men need to be honest. If you are in a heterosexual relationship and you are not stepping out and have not stepped out and do not plan to step out, be honest about your past, and also women too. Toni Guinyard>> Precious Jackson is ready to talk. Precious Jackson>> As my grandmother used to say, "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything." So this is what I'm standing for. Toni Guinyard>> I'm Toni Guinyard for Life and Times. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> Imagine inspiration delivered to your mailbox on DVD every week. It's called the Spiritual Cinema Circle. But can it succeed in our cynical time? Sam Louie talked to its founder, Stephen Simon, to find out. Sam Louie>> Stephen Simon, thank you very much for joining us. You're a long-time Hollywood producer and now you have a new title as founder of Spiritual Cinema Circle. What exactly is Spiritual Cinema Circle? Stephen Simon>> Spiritual Cinema Circle is a DVD distribution service. We send four movies a month into peoples' homes all around the world and now we're in eighty countries. They get usually two shorts, a documentary and a full-length feature. It's different from like NetFlix and Blockbuster and things like that because you actually get to own the films. Sam Louie>> Now these films are not particularly mainstream type films? Stephen Simon>> No. We are not a mainstream film company and we never make any claims to be that. We are very much a niche company. We're a company that appeals to people who are looking for movies that make you feel better about being human, looking for movies that really ask the big questions, and looking for movies that surprise you every month. Sam Louie>> Simon says the movies all contain an element of spirituality, but is quick to note that they're not necessarily religious films. Stephen Simon>> Spiritual, as far as we define it, is about films that ask questions about who we are and why we're here and, most importantly, leave you feeling better about being a human being, which is something that most mainstream media just does not do anymore. Sam Louie>> When you talk about movies from the heart, what exactly are you referring to? Do they deal with issues of mortality, struggle, death? Stephen Simon>> Oh, the movies in the Circle just cross the entire spectrum. I mean, we have comedies that are broad and funny. We have some dark comedies. We have movies about very challenging subject matter, things that people face in their lives. We have movies that deal with all kinds of cultures and all kinds of people, but they have one thing in common when I say from the heart. There's a pathway through to look at who we can be as a humanity when we operate at our very best. There is no dark, cynical endings to our films. Our films are not violent. People will not be offended by the violence in our films because we don't do that. Sam Louie>> How popular has Spiritual Cinema Circle become? Stephen Simon>> Well, the Spiritual Cinema Circle has become something that's incredibly gratifying to us. We did not know that it would grow as big and as quickly as it has. We are in eighty countries now. We have literally tens of thousands of subscribers. Sam Louie>> It's gotten so popular that there are now numerous community groups that watch the films together. Stephen Simon>> We have about two hundred Spiritual Cinema communities around the world that get together once a month, watch these films to be a support group for each other, to discuss the issues in the films. The appeal of it to people getting it every month I think has a lot to do with community. We are all, I think, looking for community. People who have like minds and like hearts and like spirits. Sam Louie>> Spiritual Cinema Circle also gives more filmmakers a chance to have their work seen by others. Stephen Simon>> We do short films which are things that people don't get anywhere else. You know, you make a seventeen, eighteen, twenty minute film. Where do you get it shown? Well, if you make a film like this and you can't get it distributed, it's like you never made it in the first place. So we have a whole legion of filmmakers now who are making films for the Circle because they know there's an audience for them. And what this is going to do is encourage -- we hope and believe -- a whole new generation of filmmakers to make movies from the heart and from the soul and about the human spirit. Sam Louie>> What led you to this point where you felt like there was a hunger and thirst for something a little different? Stephen Simon>> This has always been a part of my heart. You see that with most Hollywood films today is that they wind up being incredibly bland, so it was really let's get these kinds of movies into peoples' homes every month, give filmmakers a way to get there films distributed because that's enormously important. I'm not trying to say anything negative about that. I'm really not. This is not better than or worse than. Gandhi had this wonderful phrase, "Ours is not a better way. It's merely a different way." Sam Louie>> What's next for Spiritual Cinema Circle? Stephen Simon>> Well, we're going to continue to expand. We're going to continue to bring better and better movies to our subscribers. We've just financed and produced our first major motion picture based on "Conversations with God", the huge best-selling series of books by Neale Donald Walsch and it stars a wonderful actor named Henry Cherney. That film will be out in October of 2006. We may do more of those in the future to give filmmakers an understanding that they can make these movies from their heart and their soul and there's a way to get them out into the world and to constantly encourage more and more filmmakers to make this kind of entertainment. Sam Louie>> Great. Well, Stephen Simon, thank you very much for joining us at the Spiritual Cinema Circle. Stephen Simon>> Thank you. Sam Louie>> Best of luck. Stephen Simon>> Thank you. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Val Zavala>> It's hard to imagine Los Angeles as it once was: undeveloped Indian land. Yet you can get a taste of that if you head up the Angeles Crest Highway about fifteen miles north of La Canada. You'll come to the Haramokngna American Indian Cultural Center. I was there about a year ago for a special event and Kat High explains. Kat High>> Haramokngna is a Tongva word that means "the place where people come together" and we use that in two ways. We use it to mean they come to gather the bounty of the mountain and they come together to share stories, songs and gossip and sort of check out the gene pool on the other side of the hill. [Film Clip] Kat High>> Jimmy Castillo, who's a spiritual leader of the Tongva people, invited first all indigenous nations to join him and to represent their direction. So if you're a tribe from the south, you represented the south. If you're a tribe from the east, you represented the dawn in the east. If you're a tribe from the west, you represented southern California up to northern California. We formed a circle because we're the net of life. [Film Clip] >> "Welcome to this beautiful place, the place of my ancestors. We're the indigenous people of Los Angeles and the highlands, Catalina and San Nicolas." Kat High>> We had people from as far south and far north as the arctic circle in the village. [Film Clip] Kat High>> We use white sage to cleanse and put ourselves in the place, in a good place, to begin. The smoke goes up to the Creator and carries our blessings and our problems away with it. [Film Clip] Kat High>> The conk shell is used by some tribes to blow to bring the spirits in and to bring the people together. [Film Clip] Kat High>> A lot of people come to America that cut off their roots and then they're rootless. What we try to do is to remember that we're connected to the earth. Underneath the cement, we're still on the earth and we feel that's our mother. [Film Clip] Kat High>> We feel that we're here to help protect the earth and keep it in balance. We understand that other cultures feel the same way about their indigenous groups, so when you get to the urban area, cut that off. So here we offer people an opportunity to bring that back, to sing those songs, to feel that connection once again. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> The Haramokngna Cultural Center is open all summer and there are activities almost every weekend. Just check out their website for details. Larry Mantle>> Welcome to FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC. First up this week is the movie, "Click", starring Adam Sandler as a man who's able to control his world through the use of a remote control. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> I'm joined this week by critics Scott Foundas of the L.A. Weekly and Andy Klein of City Beat and Valley Beat. Scott, please start us off on "Click". Scott Foundas>> Well, this is really a bizarre film that has a high concept premise with Adam Sandler as this overworked architect who gets a magic remote control that allows him to literally control his own universe. He can pause, fast-forward, rewind his own life which, you know, at first seems great, but then it has all of these sort of darker implications that include him eventually sort of getting stuck on fast-forward and rocketing through his own senior years and his kids are growing up and people are dying and he's getting sick and all of these horrible things. He's essentially only experiencing the worst things in life instead of the best things. The thing about this movie that's different is that the Sandler character is truly an unlikable guy who doesn't really seem to even like his own kids or his own wife. The film in its way, even though there are many terrible things about it, comes very close, I think, to the kind of infantilism and self-loathing that is so at the heart of Sandler's comic persona. Larry Mantle>> What did you think, Andy? Andy Klein>> I kind of disagree with Scott on this. Although I did think it was kind of a mess, I found it a less interesting mess. One of the things that bothered me is that this is a film that has been advertised as though it's just a wacky comedy. As with "The Break-Up", I think it's a much darker film than that. I also think that the tone of Sandler's broad humor and sort of the pooh-pooh jokes really doesn't meld well with the serious life-evaluating stuff which really is just "A Christmas Carol". I mean, I felt like this was an unauthorized remake. Ebenezer Scrooge is not a model citizen until he gets reformed at the end. This is very, very similar that way. But Adam Sandler is not Jimmy Stewart and Adam Sandler is not Alistair Sim who did the best "Christmas Carol". That's the big problem with this film. Larry Mantle>> Our second film this week is the documentary, "Wordplay". It's hosted by the editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle, Will Shorts, who's also a regular contributor to National Public Radio. "Wordplay" indeed takes us deep inside the world of those for whom crossword puzzles are more than just a minor hobby. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> Andy, what did you think of the documentary, "Wordplay"? Andy Klein>> This is a really sweet film. It was presumably inspired by the success of "Spellbound" a couple of years ago, the documentary about the national spelling bee. This is about the national crossword puzzle tournament and also in general about crossword puzzles and the people who are obsessed with them. It's much less suspenseful than "Spellbound" because here you're not dealing with kids for the most part. You're dealing with adults to whom this is like a hobby and whether they win or lose is really not going to shape their entire lives. There are also interviews with crossword fanatics including Bill Clinton and Jon Stewart, who's very funny here as well as on television. It just looks at crossword puzzles and makes it seem like, well, this is really geeky, but that's not a bad thing. Larry Mantle>> Scott, what did you think? Andy Foundas>> I liked it too and it's kind of ridiculous how entertaining this movie is, given the subject. One of the clever things that the filmmakers do is that, during the tournament scene when these people are working on the puzzle, you see the puzzle onscreen as well in a sort of split-screen format so that you can sort of try to solve it along with them. It may not have the same element of suspense as "Spellbound", but they do really create these fascinating characters. The people that they follow have really winning personalities. You know, they were lucky that they were following some of the best people in the country who happens, of course, to then end up in the top ranks of this competition at the end. So it's quite fun. Larry Mantle>> Finally this week, the docudrama, "The Road to Guantanamo", which tells the story of three English citizens who end up being detained and sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> "The Road to Guantanamo", Scott? Scott Foundas>> This is a searing docudrama that the great British director, Michael Winterbottom, co-directed with a former assistant of his named Mat Whitecross. It's based on the true story of three Muslim friends from the midlands who became known as the Tipton Three from the neighborhood that they were from. They traveled to Pakistan to go to a wedding and ended up having this sort of misadventure where they went to Afghanistan to try to give charitable aid after the American invasion. They were mistaken for being members of the Taliban. They were captured by the Northern Alliance and they were eventually deported to Guantanamo where they spent more than two years despite the fact that they had absolutely no ties to terrorism of any kind. You know, the film couldn't be more timely, given the recent suicides at Guantanamo that have put this whole question of the legality of Guantanamo into the news again. One of the fascinating things about the film is that, for all the harsh treatment that is shown that these people received when they were there, Michael Winterbottom has made it clear that nothing that's shown in the film goes beyond what the United States has said is legal to be done to people who are detained in Guantanamo. That makes the film all the more unsettling in a way, as does the fact that the real subjects that this happened to narrate their own stories and appear throughout the film in documentary interludes. Larry Mantle>> Andy? Andy Klein>> Yeah, I agree. This is a brutal film and that's a good thing for this subject matter. It's so horrifying to watch these guys not merely be tortured and treated so badly, but when they've got ironclad alibis and interrogators are not even interested in making a phone call. You think to yourself that, even if these guys were guilty and were terrorists, what is the excuse for holding them without any legal counsel at all? I mean, what is the advantage to that unless all you care about is extracting confessions? Larry Mantle>> Great to have you with us for another FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC joined by critics Andy Klein of City Beat and Valley Beat, and Scott Foundas of the L.A. Weekly. Please join us again next week at this same time for the next FilmWeek on Life and Times. Val Zavala>> KPCC radio broadcasts a full hour of FilmWeek Friday mornings at eleven. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you tomorrow. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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