DESCRIPTION/
In Zimbabwe, coming out of the closet is like climbing into a coffin. Tina Chipo Machida, a spokeswoman for Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, is on a mission to save her country's gay community from hate and persecution (even labeling police as perpetrators) In TINA MACHIDA IN ZIMBABWE, director Robbie Hart shows Tina fighting for the rights of gays and lesbians despite death threats, and a president who calls homosexuals "dogs and pigs". At eighteen, her parents had her raped to change her ways, but Tina has continued to fight.

BIOGRAPHY/
Robbie and Luc have collaborated on more than thirty films since 1986. Their topics cover a wide range of poverty and justice issues, especially related to youth. Robbie and Luc manage to find something hopeful in the lives of the people they document, even while these people are living on the edge of society. In 1988, they traveled to Cuzco, Peru from their native Canada to interview street children for a documentary. In 2000, they went back to find them. GROWING PAINS is the story of street children who have now grown up. GROWING PAINS has already won the Prix Jeunesse at Festival Medias Nord-Sud (Geneva, 2001) and the Prix Communications et Societe (2001). Robbie and Luc have been producing RAINMAKER series about youth leaders from around the world who overcome difficult personal situations to take control of their lives and help others. Journeys roam from the United States, to Romania, India, Canada, Peru and Thailand to encounter these young activists who are crusading for change. VICTOR "GOTTI" CHERRY IN NEW YORK recently won a Silver Apple award from National Educational Media Network Video Competition, and other films in the series won similar recognition. Their films have been broadcast on the CBC, Radio Canada, TV Ontario, Tele-Quebec, PBS in the United States and in more than thirty other countries. Their production company Adobe Productions has won more than thirty awards at such prestigious film festivals as the Columbus International Film and Video Festival, Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television and the Japan Prize International Education Contest. To date, Cote and Hart¹s most ambitious projects, in terms of scope and logistics, have been two series: the eight-part Turning 16 which examined the values and concerns of 16-year-olds around the world and aired in 1994, and the six-part Rainmakers. Both series were largely well received by reviewers and the public, winning film festival awards.


CONTACT/
John Hoskyns-Abrahall
Bullfrog Films
P.O. Box 149
Oley, PA 19547
E-mail: john@bullfrogfilms.com
URL: www.bullfrogfilms.com