Vibrant Update:
Today the Hawk Takes One Chick -
Of African Grandmothers in the Age of AIDS

In Swaziland, the circle of life has been turned on its head. Grandmothers – or Gogo, as they are called in SiSwati and many southern African languages – watch their adult children die of AIDS and are forced to raise their many grandchildren on their own. In this work-in-progress, filmmaker Jane Gillooly documents the struggles of the Gogo to organize into communities at an age when they expected that their adult children would be taking care of them. The Gogo Project is a consortium of international aid organizations working to provide seeds and fertilizers for gardens, shoes and school uniforms for the children, and profitable trade skills to the Gogo so that they can support their new households.

To view an excerpt of the video, click here.

The film will be presented at the Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville on Friday, November 2, 2007. For more information, visit the Virginia Film Festival Web site.

Also airing by filmmaker Jane Gillooly is her presentation of Leona's Sister Gerri, the critically acclaimed documentary produced for PBS, on the history of the photo that galvanized the pro-choice movement.

Further coverage of featured women of the Virginia Film Festival will be available in the November issue of V Magazine for Women.

At V, we want to help women everywhere be their best.