A team of final year Bournemouth University (BU) students has partnered with the UK’s leading HIV and sexual health charity, Terrence Higgins Trust, to create a three-part HIV awareness documentary called Living Positive.
The team of BU students who worked on the documentary: Matt Cooper, Aleix Escorsell, Grace Redman, Joshua Hoare, Molly O’Hara, Ollie Tunmore and Jordon Millington.
The documentaries feature interviews from Brighton HIV advocates who share their knowledge and experiences of living with HIV.
The first video focuses on HIV diagnosis, the second on how those taking effective treatment can’t pass on the virus to others, and how, in turn, this allows people living with HIV to live a long, healthy and fulfilled life. To conclude, the final part champions the work of Terrence Higgins Trust, and the advances in science, medicine and societal views towards the topic of HIV and sexual health.
The project is being led by Ollie Tunmore who is in his final year of BA Media Production at BU and is working closely with the charity to create the piece for his graduate project. Ollie said: ‘I derived the idea whilst on placement, having used THT’s services during my time in Brighton personally. The idea came to me after a routine check-up and the ball started rolling the day after!
’I pitched the idea to the team and then worked on various alternatives throughout the summer, before concreting an idea, title, cast and carrying out production once returning to Bournemouth to complete my final year of studies.’
‘I feel honoured to be working with such an influential and inspiring charity and cannot wait to see the project come to life as it is shared with the world.’
Sue Riley, Positive Voices campaign leader at Terrence Higgins Trust, said: ‘I am so happy to be working with Ollie on this fantastic project, breaking down the stigma against HIV and getting all communities to regularly test is a must.
‘We hope the film will allow people to see that living with HIV is by no means a death sentence any more, and that you can continue to live a full, happy, healthy life.’
Ollie recently featured on BBC Radio Sussex to discuss the project on air.
You can view all three parts of the documentary here and watch the first video below.
