Mehret Mandefro

Mehret's project, Disparities: People and Places is her directorial debut after being in front of the camera for the last three years. Mehret's film will tell the story of health disparities in Philadelphia, using HIV primary prevention as the example, as told through the lens of people affected by them. It will also focus on creating a new communication and teaching strategy for advancing the understanding of the societal determinants of health. People and Places will follow the work of a Philadelphia-based HIV prevention project called the Prevention of AIDS Through Live Movement Sound (PALMS) that uses live drama to teach about HIV to at-risk youth. The film will meet and follow a group of adolescent boys and girls as they participate in PALMS educational interventions that last three days each. The film aims to change the way people think about risk and HIV. Communication in the form of film-making initiates a process of sharing and creating information that can grow and advance mutual understanding about how to finally move beyond the divides.