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.
“The film was made with people on screen who were affected by HIV/AIDS—either they were living with HIV or they had lost family to it,” he said referring to actors, extras and stage hands who worked with the film crew in South Africa.
“And here or there, I’ll get an email of someone who’s passed away—these lovely, wonderful people.
“I feel like showing the film is the least that I can do to commemorate those that have died.”
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.
“He was a lifeguard, and he came to the rescue of myself and the director,” remembers Hofbauer. “We were taken by a rip tide on one of the most dangerous beaches—they don’t tell you that 15 people die on this beach a year from rip tides.
“Without him, my friend, the director, definitely wouldn’t be here today.”
Hofbauer’s rescuer died of AIDS last year.
“That’s why I want to show it. I don’t have any other reasons. Really it’s not about other people, it’s about those people, the people I met, and making sure their film gets shown.”
3 Needles, although littered with big name actors, like Lucy Liu, Sandra Oh, Shawn Ashmore and Stockard Channing, is not a typical Hollywood film—both 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’s a style that he and the film’s director Thom Fitzgerald used in an earlier film about wild dogs in Bucharest, Romania.
“The 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.
“So all of the stories that take place in 3 Needles are from real stories. It doesn’t matter which part.
“The character who was playing the grandmother where there was a missing generation and she was taking care of her child’s kids, it really happened,” 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’ 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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