Categories
One way of making sense of this large collection of film material is to broadly categorize it.
We are working with a list of categories used to describe and collect the videos. The categories indicate the themes of the films. Each film can belong to a maximum of three categories.
Here are descriptions for each of the categories and how we apply them:
- Treatment and Care
Treatment and care of HIV and AIDS patients. Interviews in hospitals, conversations between patients and physicians / therapists, medication.
- Personal Stories
Biographical and in-depth interviews with people working with or having other experiences of HIV and AIDS. The interviewees tell their own stories, and expresses personal thoughts and reflections, instead of representing the scientific community, an agency or organization.
- Science/Research
Scientific lectures, visits to laboratories, interviews with scientists about the research on HIV and AIDS.
- Activism & NGO:s
Interviews and reports on movements and individuals who seek to influence political decisions about the AIDS epidemic (free syringes and care, distribution of antiretroviral drugs, etc.), or arrange events to commemorate the victims of the disease (such as "AIDS quilts").
- Key Populations:
- Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM)
Films with focus on the spread of HIV among men who have sex with men. Also reports from gay clubs, gay neighborhoods and so on.
- People Who Inject Drugs (PWID)
Films with focus on the the spread of HIV among intravenous drug users, and social issues related to this group.
- Sex Workers
Films with focus on the spread of HIV among sex workers. Also reports from brothels, street prostitution, strip clubs and so on.
- Transgender People
Films with focus on the spread of HIV among transgender people, and social issues related to this group.
- Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM)
- Women and AIDS
Films with focus on the spread of HIV among women, and reports on the worldwide situation for women. Also feminism and gender discrimination.
- Youth
Films on youth and AIDS: interviews with young people, school visits, education and information campaigns aimed at young people, etc.
- HIV and AIDS History
Films with a historical perspective on the AIDS epidemic.
- Stigma
Films on negative attitudes, abuse and maltreatment directed at people living with HIV or AIDS. Also homophobia and other prejudices.
- Health Policy
Interviews with politicians, policy makers and officials on health policy and global/national/local strategies in the HIV and AIDS response.
- Conferences
Films from conferences, interviews, panel discussions, lectures, scenes from exhibition booths, performances, etc.
- Uncategorized
Raw footage, cutaways, unedited street scenes, etc.
MeSH Terms and Keywords
The Face of AIDS Film Archive (FoA) is indexed with terms from Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), the controlled vocabulary thesaurus produced by The National Library of Medicine (NLM), and also with free keywords for terms not covered by MeSH. FoA only uses MeSH Main Heading Terms, not subheadings. The keywords describe the content of the films, and index both what is shown and said in interviews, conversations, cutaways, etc.
People and Organization
The heading "People" specifies persons appearing, as well as persons mentioned in the films. The heading "Organization" specifies which organization the interviewee represent, and the organizations discussed in the films.
Recurring Questions
Staffan Hildebrand and his team often return to certain questions and discussions in their interviews. Here are a few examples of some of these issues and how they have been indexed:
”How can you change the power structure between men and women?”
MeSH: Sexism
“Are you an optimist?” / "What do you think about the future?"
Keyword: Future Perspectives
“Can sexual behavior change?”
MeSH: Sexual Behavior
“What is the origin of AIDS”?
Keyword: HIV and AIDS Origin
“There is a lot of discussion about ending AIDS. As a scientist, how do you see it?”
Keyword / MeSH: Ending AIDS / Disease Eradication
“How did you react when you heard that you were HIV positive?”
MeSH: Life Change Events
Question for person living with HIV if he/she is happy or sad, hopeful or depressed:
MeSH: Attitude to Health
“Do you think that AIDS is an answer from Nature?” (and other questions on Man’s relation to Nature)
MeSH: Nature
From 2011 and onwards, Staffan Hildebrand has made a series of follow-up interviews with people he met and filmed years before. In these interviews, the interviewees describe their reactions on seeing the old film clips, and comment on what has happened since then. The follow-up films are marked as “Follow-Up Interview”.