In honour of the people who have died since its release, local filmmaker Bryan Hofbauer is showing 3 Needles, a film he produced in 2005 about the worldwide spread of HIV and AIDS.
鈥淭he film was made with people on screen who were affected by HIV/AIDS鈥攅ither they were living with HIV or they had lost family to it,鈥� he said referring to actors, extras and stage hands who worked with the film crew in South Africa.
鈥淎nd here or there, I鈥檒l get an email of someone who鈥檚 passed away鈥攖hese lovely, wonderful people.
鈥淚 feel like showing the film is the least that I can do to commemorate those that have died.鈥�
Hofbauer, who moved to Jasper last summer and began teaching at Jasper Junior/Senior High School in September, said one of the people who will be on his mind as he shows the film on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, is the man who saved his life.
鈥淗e was a lifeguard, and he came to the rescue of myself and the director,鈥� remembers Hofbauer. 鈥淲e were taken by a rip tide on one of the most dangerous beaches鈥攖hey don鈥檛 tell you that 15 people die on this beach a year from rip tides.
鈥淲ithout him, my friend, the director, definitely wouldn鈥檛 be here today.鈥�
Hofbauer鈥檚 rescuer died of AIDS last year.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I want to show it. I don鈥檛 have any other reasons. Really it鈥檚 not about other people, it鈥檚 about those people, the people I met, and making sure their film gets shown.鈥�
3 Needles, although littered with big name actors, like Lucy Liu, Sandra Oh, Shawn Ashmore and Stockard Channing, is not a typical Hollywood film鈥攂oth in its subject matter and style.
The film, which tells three interwoven stories of people dealing with HIV and AIDS in Africa, China and Canada, mixes real life images and stories into a fictionalized world.
Hofbauer said it鈥檚 a style that he and the film鈥檚 director Thom Fitzgerald used in an earlier film about wild dogs in Bucharest, Romania.
鈥淭he way we made that film was that there was a little bit of scripted story, but the vast majority was real life footage that we would then intercut, so based on that experience we built an approach that we used here.
鈥淪o all of the stories that take place in 3 Needles are from real stories. It doesn鈥檛 matter which part.
鈥淭he character who was playing the grandmother where there was a missing generation and she was taking care of her child鈥檚 kids, it really happened,鈥� he said.
The film was debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival and made its commercial release on World AIDS Day in 2006.
In Jasper, 3 Needles will hit the screen at the Seniors鈥� Lounge, Dec. 1, at 7 p.m. Following the screening, Hofbauer will be available for a question and answer period.
Nicole Veerman
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