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Archbishop Desmond Tutu endorses HIV/AIDS public service announcements
Independent Online (IOL). 29 October 2003. Republished courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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A series of twenty public service announcements called The Three Amigos is about to be launched as a groundbreaking HIV/AIDS prevention strategy, and has been endorsed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Shaft, Stretch and Dick - all condoms - are parodies of typical dysfunctional males, battling to negotiate their sexuality in a world fraught with danger and risk.
The series will be launched at Sithengi - The Southern African Film & TV Market taking place in Cape Town - on the 13th of November at 6pm as part of the Animation Festival.
Creator and writer Brent Quinn of Quintet Productions, based in Johannesburg, said his company has had "great feedback about the radical strategy" in the series, which uses comedy as a medium.
"The key challenge in the prevention of HIV/AIDS is to shift mindsets and challenge attitudes that lead to unprotected sex. This series of comedy sketches is aimed to nudge the sexually active towards common sense. The key focus of The Three Amigos is to de-stigmatise the condom itself. In making condoms our friends or amigos, many lives can be saved," Quinn says.
The Three Amigos is a South African-Canadian co-production. Many of Canada?’s top animation companies have co-operated to create the series.
SABC 1 is committed to broadcasting the series on prime time television in South Africa.
The PSAs are going to be distributed around the world - and will be free to broadcasters across Africa.
Each broadcaster is encouraged to translate the series into various local languages, with local stars re-voicing the characters.
Quinn?’s producing partner is globally renowned Canadian producer Firdaus Kharas. Kharas has extensive experience internationally producing animation series and was one of the producers of animated PSAs for Unicef's highly successful Cartoons for Children's Rights series.
He attended Sithengi (The Southern African Film & TV Market) in November 2002, where Quinn pitched the concept to Kharas, who immediately accepted.
"Having a partner of Kharas's stature on board", says Quinn, "has opened doors internationally." Kharas has managed to attract major buy-in for the series. Top Canadian animator designer and director Gord Coulthart of Funbag Animation created the characters. Other top animation companies across Canada and India are also involved with the production. |
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