Catherine Phiri was a 40 years old nurse from Malawi, mother of two kids, who discovered to be HIV positive after the death of her husband due to AIDS. Risking violence and stigmatization in a conservative society such as that of her country, Catherine decided to come out in the open, to declare her HIV-positive condition, and to use her experience to break the silence surrounding AIDS. She thus became a respected leader, a charismatic fiugre, a source of insipiration for thousands of people. The Salima HIV/AIDS Support Organization (SASO), which she founded in 1994, is dedicated to the assistance to thousands of AIDS orphans, to the spreading of information on the HIV virus, and to the care of hundreds of terminally ill patients. Based entirely on voluntary work, SASO grew tremendously over the years, involving thousands of people in the district of Salima.

Catherine Phiri symbolizes the strength of African women and their capacity of reaction against adverse circumstances, their constant commitment to new solidarity experiences, to self-organization and social creativity. As her health worsened, Catherine continued in her battle till the very last day, with the same determination and courage which marked her entire life.

AWARDS AND SCREENINGS

• YLE TV (Finland)
• MAORI TV (New Zealand)
• Ammirato Culture House, Lecce, 2015
• “Alice e le altre”, Lecce, 2014
• Cinema Massimo, Torino, 2012
• Casa della Cultura, Milano 2006
• Castelli Film Festival 2006
• Prize for Best Documentary – NIFF Net Independent Film Festival 2006
• XII Euromediterranean Conference on Cinema – Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica – Venezia 2006
• Umanitaria – Human Rights in the World – Rome 2006
• Sguardi Altrove – Milano 2006
• Festival de Films sur les Droits de la Personne de Montréal, 2006
• III International Festival of Cinema and Human Rights, Barcelona, Spain 2005
• City Hide Project, Roma 2005
• Pärnu International Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival, Pärnu, Estonia, 2005
• Festival International des Droits de l’Homme, Parigi 2005
• Circuito Documè, Torino, 2005
• Università di Siena, Facoltà di Antropologia Visuale, 2005
• Anteprima Biennale Cinema per la Pace, Pisa 2005
• Stati Generali del Documentario Italiano, Cineteca di Bologna, 2004
• Prize “Libero Bizzarri”, San Benedetto del Tronto, 2004
• City of Bologna – City Council Hall, 2004
• Cinema Lumière, Bologna 2004