AEGiS-PRn: Ground-Breaking TV Series "Positive: Life with HIV" to Go Beyond TV Screen And Into Viewers' Lives; ITVS Announces Three Positive Series Participants To Take Part In The White House Conference On HIV and AIDS, Wednesday, December 6

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Ground-Breaking TV Series "Positive: Life with HIV" to Go Beyond TV Screen And Into Viewers' Lives; ITVS Announces Three Positive Series Participants To Take Part In The White House Conference On HIV and AIDS, Wednesday, December 6

PR Newswire - December 5, 1995

ST. PAUL, Minn., Dec. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- From the Independent Television Service comes the following announcement: On the heels of World AIDS Day, President Clinton has invited many of the nation's key experts and spokespersons involved with the HIV/AIDS epidemic to join the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS at the White House Conference on HIV and AIDS, Wednesday, December 6. Two Advisory Council members -- Kathy Gerus, an HIV-positive mother from suburban Detroit whose 10-year-old daughter wrote "My Parents Have HIV/AIDS," Carol laFavor, an HIV-positive Ojibwe activist/educator working with Positively Native in Minneapolis, Minn. -- and one of the White House Conference's invited guests -- John Wilson, an HIV-positive Navajo activist/educator from western New Mexico -- have participated in the upcoming public television documentary series, "POSITIVE: LIFE WITH HIV."

POSITIVE: LIFE WITH HIV is a four-part series that looks inside the epidemic with revealing profiles of people with HIV/AIDS, their families, friends and caregivers. Council member laFavor has been an advisor to POSITIVE since its pre-production beginnings. Council member Gerus's daughter Stephanie (and Gerus, herself) is profiled in a series segment entitled "Stephanie's Story," a poignant look at her family's life with HIV. Conference attendee Wilson's educational efforts on the vast and remote Navajo reservation are featured in the series' "Melvin and John" segment. Says Gerus of Wednesday's conference, "This is a very momentous occasion; I think we can use this opportunity to educate a lot of people. Most people do not see AIDS as a major problem for them or the nation. I'm hoping that the diversity of the conference participants -- like in the POSITIVE series -- will give people a better picture of the reality of HIV/AIDS."

Produced for the Independent Television Service (ITVS) by AIDSFILMS, Inc., POSITIVE: LIFE WITH HIV is being supported by an ambitious grassroots campaign, with funds provided by The Ford Foundation, designed to reach beyond the screen and into people's neighborhoods and communities. ITVS has set up partnerships with groups in local broadcast markets, and has arranged for the series to be used as an educational resource for organizations as wide-ranging as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the AIDS National Interfaith Network, the AFL-CIO, the Child Welfare League of America, the Teamsters and over 96 public television stations.

Responding to President Clinton's World AIDS Day pledge "to stand together, united against HIV and AIDS and committed to ending ignorance and prejudice," ITVS Executive Director Jim Yee said, "With POSITIVE, we are committed to extending beyond the usual reach of television by creating a way for the individual viewer to connect with their own local community, where they can be a real and effective catalyst for understanding and change."

For further information or to arrange interviews, please call Nancy Robinson of ITVS at 612-225-9035, ext. 224.

CONTACT: Nancy Robinson of Independent Television Service, 612-225-9035, ext. 224/ 17:40 EST

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