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It's My Life

It's My Life

At the beginning of IT'S MY LIFE we learn that there are 4.7 million South Africans currently infected with the HIV virus and, despite the fact that anti-retroviral medicines allow people with HIV to lead almost normal lives, the South African government has failed to provide them in public hospitals and clinics. More damning, the President of the country, Thabo Mbeki, has consistently questioned the link between HIV and AIDS.

It is in this context that Zackie Achmat, the HIV positive acting chairperson of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), has decided not to take anti-retroviral medicines until they are made available by the government in public hospitals and clinics.

Filmed over five months, IT'S MY LIFE follows Zackie as he leads a court battle against the multi-national drug companies to allow the introduction of cheaper, generic drugs, and takes on the South African government for it's confusing policies around HIV/AIDS.

As a leader in the campaign for affordable treatment, Zackie's provocative position is not one all his friends and colleagues support. When Zackie gets ill, everyone wants to know why he refuses to take the medicines that would let him lead a healthier life.

IT'S MY LIFE interweaves personal and public images to provide an intimate look at an internationally profiled defiance campaign and the complexities of its leading figure.

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