AHF and BIENESTAR host Preview Screening of ‘Cesar Chavez’ March 27th

In News by AHF

March 27th—Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE Stadium 14

Coinciding with the launch of a new ‘SIDA, Cuestíon de Derechos Humanos’ LA billboard campaign featuring an image of Cesar Chavez, as well as the historic labor rights leader’s March 31 birthday, local nonprofit organizations AHF and BIENESTAR present a preview screening of the 2014 feature film ‘Cesar Chavez’ at Downtown LA’s Regal Cinemas on March 27, the day before the film’s public release – screening will be opened by remarks from speakers including 25th U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis

 

LOS ANGELES (March 27, 2014) – To honor labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez, who is featured prominently in a new AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) awareness campaign, AHF is partnering with local community-based organization BIENESTAR to present an advanced screening of Cesar Chavez, a feature biopic directed by Diego Luna and starring Michael Peña. The film was recently awarded the Narrative Spotlight Award at Austin’s South by Southwest (SxSW) film festival.

The screening will be held on Thursday, March 27 – the day before the film is widely released to the public – at the Regal Cinemas L.A. Live Stadium 14. Doors to the event open at 6:30 pm, and prior to the film screening brief speeches will be given by 25th U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, BIENESTAR President and CEO Oscar De La O, and AHF President Michael Weinstein. The film presentation coincides with both Chavez’s March 31 birthday and the debut of a new AHF ‘AIDS is a Civil Rights Issue/ SIDA, Cuestíon de Derechos Humanos’ billboard campaign in Los Angeles which features an image of Chavez and spotlights the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on the Latino community.

[HILDA SOLIS QUOTE]

“AIDS needs to continue to be fought on several fronts, with research for new pharmaceutical therapies, vaccine research, innovative medical care, prevention efforts and access to care and treatment. I have been a longtime supporter of both culturally and linguistically competent HIV/AIDS programs for our underserved community and look forward to continue supporting this effort,” said Hilda Solis, 25th U.S. Secretary of Labor and a current candidate for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, First District.

“For the past 25 years, addressing civil rights and  social justice issues such as discrimination, homophobia, AIDS stigma and poverty have been key to BIENESTAR’s mission to promote the health and wellbeing of the Latino community and other underserved communities,” said BIENESTAR President and CEO Oscar De La O. “We are pleased to join efforts with AHF on this important social marketing campaign”.

Following the launch of AHF’s successful “AIDS is a Civil Rights Issue” national awareness campaign, which featured events throughout February in Jackson, Mississippi; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Dallas and Los Angeles, AHF expanded the reach and imagery of the campaign’s billboard component—which initially featured artwork consisting of a stylized, artistic rendering of civil rights icon Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. with the headline, ‘AIDS is a Civil Rights Issue’—by posting similar artwork featuring Cesar Chavez with the tagline, ‘SIDA, Cuestíon de Derechos Humanos.’

“As African American and Latino communities continue to be disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS compared with their respective percentages of the overall population, these AHF ‘AIDS is a Civil Rights Issue’ billboards serve as a reminder of this disparity while also suggesting that access to HIV prevention, care and treatment for HIV/AIDS should be a universal human right,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “By introducing this new Cesar Chavez billboard, we honor the memory of this civil rights leader in an effort to address current—and significant—health disparities among Latinos with regard to HIV/AIDS. Through our overall campaign, we are also opening a frank dialogue with key stakeholders in the community, the public health arena, faith-based groups, with public officials as well as with the general public to better address these health disparities.”

The first Chavez billboard went up on a double-billboard installation in Miami on March 7, and then began appearing as solo installations in Los Angeles on March 17. Learn more about the ‘AIDS is a Civil Rights Issue’ campaign at www.aidshealth.org/civil-rights.

 

HIV/AIDS in the Latino Community

Latino communities face a number of challenges that contribute to their disproportionate HIV/AIDS burden, including poverty, injected drug use, stigma and discrimination, limited access to healthcare, and language or cultural barriers in healthcare settings. In 2010, Latinos accounted for just 16% of the overall U.S. population, yet carried 21% of the nation’s newly reported HIV infections; and in 2011, this community bore 21% of new AIDS diagnoses in the U.S. This disparate rate of AIDS diagnoses is indicative of another major problem facing the Latino community’s HIV/AIDS fight: according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one third of Latinos (36%) were tested for HIV late in their illness, meaning they were diagnosed with AIDS within one year of discovering their HIV-positive status. Comparatively, 31% of Blacks and 32% of whites were tested late.

Spanish Version

Source: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation ‘Latinos and HIV/AIDS’ Factsheet from March 6, 2013

AHF y BIENESTAR Presentarán la Proyección del Preestreno de ‘César Chávez’ el 27 de marzo en Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE Stadium 14
WSJ — AIDS Group To Pharma CEO: Lower Your Prices Or Lower Your Pay