International AIDS Candlelight Memorial
The third Sunday of May AIDS victims will be remembered world wide at International AIDS Candlelight Memorial. This year at May 15, a memorial evening will be held in the city of Den Bosch (capital of the province Noord-Brabant) in the Netherlands. Organized by Untenu Foundation, COC Noordoost Brabant in cooperation with the local branch of the HIV Association Netherlands. The Cambodian documentary ‘Karma?’ (about a transgender sex worker living with HIV) will be shown, and a benefit show by the drag queen duo Meander & Bijoux. Location: ‘Bij Katrien’, Triniteitstraat 19, close to Sint Jan’s Cathedral, starting at 8 PM.
The program includes a memorial by the Brabant branch of the HIV Association Netherlands, the film documentary ‘Karma?’ about transgender sex workers living with HIV in Cambodia and a performance by the drag queen duo Meander & Bijoux. Sheilla Bijoux and Zarah Meander are ambassadors of the foundation Untenu (= Khmer for ‘rainbow’), the emergency and education fund for LGBT living with HIV in Cambodia. There is no entrance fee, but a spontaneous collection “in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in need.”
Documentary Film ‘Karma?’
(2014), director Vanna Hem (1984), length: 30 minutes, language: Khmer, English subtitles.
This film documentary is about the lives of two lady-boy sex workers Pao and Srey Leak in Phnom Penh who face sexual violence and ignorance from the society. Pao and Srey Leak become sisters, living together and taking care each other after their families had kicked them out. The intense, observational documentary ‘Karma?’ tells the story of the hard life of HIV-positive transgender sex workers and of coming of age in Phnom Penh. This documentary also shows the strength of friendship.