Strong Shoulders

This upbeat and engaging program is a collaboration between 10 local film and video makers and a surprising and dedicated cast of individuals who work in the field of AIDS/HIV healthcare and activism. The video stems from Scribe's 1995 call for local videomakers to shoot "a day in the life of" AIDS/HIV caregivers, advocates and activists, in observance of world AIDS day.

Each team created 4-minute video portraits to honor seven Philadelphia-based AIDS outreach workers and activists, a few of whom are HIV-positive themselves; each portrait was edited to weave in and out of another activist's story, creating a vivid patchwork of humor ("My goal in life is to be the first mentally ill, male HIV-positive Miss America."), activism, humanity and love. Some of the contributors to AIDS relief and activism profiled in the video include: Nikki Caccia - a volunteer for the Action A.I.D.S. Buddy Program, David Acosta - poet and advocate for GALAEI (a Latino gay and lesbian organization), Philly P.A.W.S. (an agency which cares for the pets of people living with AIDS), Karin Lyons of WISDOM (a program for women with HIV-AIDS), Mark Davis, an advocate for mental health services for people with HIV-AIDS, and Billy Hatcher, an activist and long-term resident of Betak Hospice in Germantown.