When Anton Zuiker first saw the documentary A Closer Walk about the global AIDS crisis, he was hit by the film’s emotional punch. “It wasn’t about the science of AIDS,” says Zuiker, who’s a graduate fellow in medical journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. “It raises feelings and the moral imperative to care about the thousands of people dying every day around the globe.” The film Zuiker saw on a video screen in one of his classes will get a full showing tonight at 7 p.m. in the Carolina Union Auditorium on the UNC campus. Academy-Award-winning director Robert Bilheimer will be on hand to answer questions, and a representative from the Global Health Council will give a workshop on AIDS prevention advocacy. This week’s free screening is the first in the “Narratives of HIV” series sponsored by the schools of Public Health, Medicine and Journalism at UNC. Upcoming events include a talk by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mark Schoofs on Feb. 25 and a screening of the documentary, HIV Positive Voices on March 22. A Closer Walk, which features interviews with Dalai Lama and Bono, was shown on Oprah on World AIDS Day and is now on a national tour of college campuses, churches and community organizations. While the UNC series is aimed at future journalists and health workers, Zuiker says it’s also “for all students and community members to listen to the stories of HIV/AIDS and to hear in those stories a call to action.” Go to www.medicaljournalism.info for details on the “Narratives of HIV” series. For information on the documentary, visit www.acloserwalk.org .
