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Ximei: Fighting China's AIDS Scandal

1 x 98 / 1 x 52 HD

Executive Produced by Ai Wei Wei this award winning film tells the story of Ximei, a young peasant woman who contracted AIDS during China’s "Black Blood Economy”, a 1990’s government-sponsored campaign that aimed to monetize the blood of its peasants. Impoverished residents of Henan Province lined up in droves to sell their blood for a month’s wages (5 USD), so that the government could manufacture blood products to sell back on the market for easy profits. Donors and recipients became infected with HIV due to contaminated medical equipment and blood, sparking a full-blown epidemic that spread among 300,000 people.

 

In an ominous display of how China would later respond to Covid-19, a scandalous cover up and media blackout ensues.

 

Ximei is sequestered to live out a desolate life in the AIDS Villages where, instead of succumbing to death, she becomes determined to fight for life. Her courageous actions and fiery character transform the tragedy of Henan's HIV-infected outcasts into lives of hope and dignity.

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