M·A·C cosmetics leads the fight against Aids

1 in 3 teenagers in the UK and US don’t know that HIV is a sexually transmitted disease. Facts like this take the pulse of a millennial generation for whom HIV/Aids is just somebody else’s problem – old news. It’s been a long time since the shock tactics of the late 80s – like those of art collective Gran Fury – yet the fight against the disease is far from over. Hoping to awaken the cultural consciousness of what Senior Vice President of M·A·C Nancy Mahon calls today’s ‘missed generation’, the M·A·C Aids fund has sponsored a new documentary on the disease, It’s Not Over, directed by MTV-favourite Andrew Jenks. Best known for its groundbreaking Viva Glam line – which has seen everyone from RuPaul to Dazed cover star Nicki Minaj create limited edition products – the organisation hopes the film will challenge the stigma that remains around HIV/Aids by chronicling a year in the lives of three young people living with or directly affected by it.

Launching on Netflix today to mark World Aids Day, the documentary presses reset on the viewer’s assumptions, expressly targeting a generation who, although apparently apathetic, will feel a connection when hashtags and statistics emerge as real, vibrant individuals. One of those individuals is Lucky Mfundisi, a soccer coach and educator who, boasting negative status in a South Africa town with some of the highest rates of HIV in the world, is a beacon of perseverance with an all-too fitting name. Ahead of the film's release, we spoke to Mahon and Mfundisi about the urgent need for young people to listen up and take the lead, and why positive, awareness-raising action is more crucial than ever.

The M·A·C Aids Fund is predominantly known for Viva Glam. Why the decision to fund a documentary? Why now?

Nancy Mahon: There have been more advances in the actual ability to treat and prevent Aids over the last two years than in the previous 25 years combined. What’s become evident is that even though that’s great, it’s literally not over. The reason for that is because of poverty, prejudice and stigma – and the fact that most people still don’t have access to the medication. So part of it is keeping Aids relevant, part of it is deeper and really defining what the problem is. The other focus now has to be young people – the numbers are going up globally of young people that are infected. People who are aged 12-24 are at risk themselves, but are also the next policy makers.

So we basically upped our game. The way people learn is through stories. Just look at any kind of stigma issue, whether it’s transgender people, gay people, interracial marriages or anything that was stigmatised for many, many years. And so we felt that if we have real life protagonists, and real life stories of young people, then that would make a difference.

Lucky, what’s it like living in Khayelitsa, where close to 100% of people are living with HIV?

Lucky Mfundisi: I grew up in it, so it’s kind of normal now. But it’s not easy because you have to watch what you’re doing. In terms of meeting new girls, I walk around and think, “Wow, I like this person.” But then you think, “OK, I like her, but what if she has HIV?” There is always that question mark running inside your head about everything you do. If someone is injured and you want to help, you’re always like, “Oh, HIV.”

The doc focuses on millennials affected by or living with the disease. Why is it important for young people to learn as soon as possible about the dangers? 

Lucky Mfundisi: In South Africa I would say there is a lack of parent-to-child talk. Our mothers are not that comfortable in sitting a child down and saying ‘My child, now that you are old, now you must understand life’. Having that talk about sex, about boyfriends, about condoms, about HIV. So kids just talk to friends instead. That’s where I step in! Teenagers, when they are alone, just brag about what they did – they will never say, “I used a condom”, they will say, “I had sex!” I always say you can’t stop a 16 year old from having sex. I think you’re fighting a losing battle, there. 

Nancy Mahon: And when they’re playing soccer they aren’t having sex! It’s [Grassroots Soccer, Lucky’s organisation] an after school program in a country where its hard sometimes for the younger kids to have hope. Because part of protecting yourself from HIV is protecting your life, and having hope.

There is still this huge stigma around being HIV positive. What is the importance, aside from providing medication, in having a conversation?

Lucky Mfundisi: We’ve got to make kids understand one thing: stigma. Stigma kills more than HIV. People don’t go to clinics because there will be people gossiping about them. Some people wont even go to test, because they are afraid of what people will say about them when they go inside. Because if one person sees you go into a clinic, and you come out, they’re like “Mmhmm.”

Nancy Mahon: You’re marked.

Lucky Mfundisi: Exactly. If young people can ever understand that stigma is the real killer, I think things will change slowly.

Nancy Mahon: Ironically, as you know, one of the first slogans for ‘Act Up’ in the US [NY advocacy group founded in 1987] was ‘silence equals death.’ I really feel it’s almost worse, now. Because if you got HIV, then, it always was understood to be your fault in some way: perhaps you got it through sex or drugs. And now, because the treatment is more advanced, people tend to feel like it’s almost even more your fault. Aids is more stigmatised than either sex or drug use. We’re hoping to break through that clutter and make a bigger difference. And start a conversation.  

What’s the overall message you hope viewers will take from It’s Not Over?

Nancy Mahon: You know, it really isn’t over and unless we have these hard conversations and unless we put more money on the table for poor people to have medications, and really destigmatise Aids, it’s not going to be over in our lifetime and its not going to be over in our kid’s life time either.

Lucky Mfundisi: I want to show them that there are young people out there that are fighting this thing. And I want them to understand that they have the power to fight. I don’t want people saying the government isn’t doing anything – what about you as the young person? It’s sad that our youth is in danger of HIV. Just don’t say “I don’t have HIV – so what?” You can be negative just like me, but on that cycle working and trying to change that world.