

Waiting for the Wind

By Speaking Out StaffWaiting for the Wind is a short film directed by Hieu Tran, founder of Friends Make Film in Vietnam. The film depicts the lives of two young gay men living in Ho Chi Minh City, showcasing poignant messages about love, sex, HIV, and the challenges gay men face due to stigma and discrimination in Vietnam. The film also delves into family support, sex work, and access to HIV services, aiming to catalyze frank discussions about the lives of gay men in a country where many people do not see homosexuality in a positive light.Hieu Tran founded Friends Make Film in 2012, bringing together a local group of young gay men and straight allies who have the passion and commitment to make short films that tell stories of Vietnamese people, including the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. To make Waiting for the Wind, Hieu Tran worked with a dedicated crew of gay and straight allies to write the script, recruit the two main actors (one gay and one straight), produce the film, and release it online. Tran was motivated to write the script because he believes that gay men’s love, struggles, and experiences need to be discussed openly in Vietnam.The film will be screened and discussed in public forums with stakeholders, policy makers, healthcare providers, and the community at large. Tran believes that Waiting for the Wind has the potential to raise awareness and generate important dialogues about the most salient issues in the lives of gay men in Vietnam. The online response to the film has been extremely positive, with the film accumulating over 23,000 hits on youtube in the first two months since its release.G-Link and the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) supported the production of Waiting for the Wind as part of the Speaking Out Initiative in Vietnam. The Speaking Out Initiative is in its second year of implementation, with the mission to strengthen MSM advocacy and engagement at the local, national, and international level to end the HIV epidemic and promote MSM human rights with the Vietnamese HIV law and other social-political contexts. For more information on Speaking Out Vietnam visit: http://www.msmgf.org/index.cfm/id/346/Vietnam/ The film can be viewed in full online at http://youtu.be/nu6f8O9h_VQ