Who: Gilead Sciences with global AOR Bensimon Byrne for creative, strategy and global media; Hadi Moussally for direction; Stephanie Massart-Weit for executive production; Jethro Massey for local production; and Alessandro Clemenza for photography.
What: “Paris Ballroom Story,” a short documentary showing the efforts of Afrique Arc-En-Ciel Paris IDF, a Paris-based LGBTQIA+ organization dedicated to enhancing HIV support and resources. The film is the most recent initiative in Gilead’s ongoing
What: “Paris Ballroom Story,” a short documentary showing the efforts of Afrique Arc-En-Ciel Paris IDF, a Paris-based LGBTQIA+ organization dedicated to enhancing HIV support and resources. The film is the most recent initiative in Gilead’s ongoing
Together campaign, spotlighting marginalized groups affected by the HIV epidemic.
When & Where: The film premiered in October at the European AIDS Conference in Warsaw, Poland and is supported by a digital media buy with 30- and 15-second cutdowns for social programmatic, and search, targeting health care professions, policy makers and public health officials. Shorter versions all drive to Gilead’s microsite gileadhivtogether.com, where the full video is hosted.
Why: There is no systematic HIV screening system in place when immigrants arrive in France, even when they come from countries experiencing an HIV epidemic. According to data collected by clinics in Paris, a high percentage of born-abroad males who have sex with men, acquired HIV after emigrating to France. But as LGBTQIA+ individuals who may have faced stigma or even persecution in their home countries, they are often too afraid to seek sexual health support on their own.
Ariel Jean-Urbain founded Afrique Arc-En-Ciel Paris IDF in 2004, to address the lack of support for those living with HIV, a problem that disproportionately hurts sub-Saharan African and Caribbean migrant populations.
The group has been attending Paris Ballroom events where they can discreetly approach attendee to start conversations, share resources and even offer screening on-site. As HIV prevention efforts become a recognized presence in the space, enthusiastic conversations about sexual health are increasingly welcomed.
About Ballroom: The ballroom scene is an underground queer subculture that started in the late 1970s, when African-American and Latino communities in Harlem sought a safe space for self-expression, and has since been adopted in cities all over the world. It encompasses a wide array of performances, including lip-syncing, dancing, and voguing, which serve to simultaneously epitomize and satirize gender constructs, occupations, and social classes, while also offering an escape from reality.
How: Gilead's always on Together campaign started before Bensimon Byrne's involvement two years ago, but the agency was awarded global AOR because of its existing knowledge base around HIV through previous work that it’s done in the space (like this, this and this).
For this latest initiative, the brief was to bring the Ballroom story to life in its purest form, in a way that a general audience can understand and appreciate, said chief creative officer at Tadiem, Bensimon Byrne’s parent company, Joseph Bonnici. “The more we can identify these stories for people around the world, the more education happens so that people can understand there are ways of ending the HIV epidemic.”
The director Hadi Moussally was chosen for his unique position as a member of the Ballroom scene in Paris. The film is narrated in French with English subtitles, and follows Jean-Urbain as he introduces the audience to an event venue (Kiki House of Bodega, in Paris) where we hear from volunteers of the organization, some of whom are also community members. Other shots offer glimpses into dancing, and the set up of the discreet screening area, tucked away from the main event stage.
"Paris Ballroom Story" is one of multiple initiatives that Gilead and Bensimon have spotlighted in the Together campaign, including "Barbershop Talk" which was filmed in Cairns, Australia. The film is about a small HIV clinic that partnered with a local barber shop (with the support of a Gilead grant) to bring HIV support to a community of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders, in a space that already felt like home.
“We’re always trying to discover more innovations that are happening around the world so we can tell more stories,” said Bonnici. “The more we can illuminate these stories, the more we can allow what's happening in the community to scale up.”
[videopress GrADxTsk]
When & Where: The film premiered in October at the European AIDS Conference in Warsaw, Poland and is supported by a digital media buy with 30- and 15-second cutdowns for social programmatic, and search, targeting health care professions, policy makers and public health officials. Shorter versions all drive to Gilead’s microsite gileadhivtogether.com, where the full video is hosted.
Why: There is no systematic HIV screening system in place when immigrants arrive in France, even when they come from countries experiencing an HIV epidemic. According to data collected by clinics in Paris, a high percentage of born-abroad males who have sex with men, acquired HIV after emigrating to France. But as LGBTQIA+ individuals who may have faced stigma or even persecution in their home countries, they are often too afraid to seek sexual health support on their own.
Ariel Jean-Urbain founded Afrique Arc-En-Ciel Paris IDF in 2004, to address the lack of support for those living with HIV, a problem that disproportionately hurts sub-Saharan African and Caribbean migrant populations.
The group has been attending Paris Ballroom events where they can discreetly approach attendee to start conversations, share resources and even offer screening on-site. As HIV prevention efforts become a recognized presence in the space, enthusiastic conversations about sexual health are increasingly welcomed.
About Ballroom: The ballroom scene is an underground queer subculture that started in the late 1970s, when African-American and Latino communities in Harlem sought a safe space for self-expression, and has since been adopted in cities all over the world. It encompasses a wide array of performances, including lip-syncing, dancing, and voguing, which serve to simultaneously epitomize and satirize gender constructs, occupations, and social classes, while also offering an escape from reality.
How: Gilead's always on Together campaign started before Bensimon Byrne's involvement two years ago, but the agency was awarded global AOR because of its existing knowledge base around HIV through previous work that it’s done in the space (like this, this and this).
For this latest initiative, the brief was to bring the Ballroom story to life in its purest form, in a way that a general audience can understand and appreciate, said chief creative officer at Tadiem, Bensimon Byrne’s parent company, Joseph Bonnici. “The more we can identify these stories for people around the world, the more education happens so that people can understand there are ways of ending the HIV epidemic.”
The director Hadi Moussally was chosen for his unique position as a member of the Ballroom scene in Paris. The film is narrated in French with English subtitles, and follows Jean-Urbain as he introduces the audience to an event venue (Kiki House of Bodega, in Paris) where we hear from volunteers of the organization, some of whom are also community members. Other shots offer glimpses into dancing, and the set up of the discreet screening area, tucked away from the main event stage.
"Paris Ballroom Story" is one of multiple initiatives that Gilead and Bensimon have spotlighted in the Together campaign, including "Barbershop Talk" which was filmed in Cairns, Australia. The film is about a small HIV clinic that partnered with a local barber shop (with the support of a Gilead grant) to bring HIV support to a community of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders, in a space that already felt like home.
“We’re always trying to discover more innovations that are happening around the world so we can tell more stories,” said Bonnici. “The more we can illuminate these stories, the more we can allow what's happening in the community to scale up.”
[videopress GrADxTsk]
