The Lazarus Effect Trailer (2010)

Trailer for the documentary The Lazarus Effect.

Directed by Lance Bangs and executive produced by Spike Jonze and Susan Smith Ellis, The Lazarus Effect documents the transformative effects that ARVs can have on people, their families and their communities when treatment is accessible. The film traces the experience of Constance (Connie) Mudena, who lost all three of her children to AIDS before treatment was accessible. When she and her husband both tested positive for HIV, treatment was not readily available and at the end of each month they had to choose between buying life-saving medicine, paying the rent or buying food with their meager income. Constance eventually heard about a clinic that was making free drugs available. She was one of the first people to be enrolled at the clinic where she is now a HIV Peer Education Supervisor.

The Lazarus Effect shows people at the beginning of their treatment when they are gravely ill, returning a few months later to follow their progression to health."(RED), Spike and I went into this film wanting the people in it to tell their own stories" says director Lance Bangs. This film is a hopeful one, yet a reminder that almost 4,000 people still die every day from AIDS in Africa because not all people who need access to the treatment have it."

The Lazarus Effect is the center of a multi-media campaign by (RED) to raise awareness of the impact of large-scale AIDS programs at work in sub-Saharan Africa and the life-restoring effect of ARV medicine now available to HIV-positive people for around 40 cents a day. Thanks to public health organizations like the Global Fund and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), funding for ARVs is being provided to millions of people in Africa. In addition to funding, these organizations are educating people on how they can stay healthy and protect themselves from contracting and spreading the HIV virus.

(RED), the largest business sector funder of the Global Fund, supported the production of the documentary to show the impact that effective, targeted aid is having in the fight against the AIDS pandemic in Africa. Says Sheila Roche, Head of Global Communications, (RED), and one of the producers of The Lazarus Effect, "(RED) felt it was important to tell the story and share with the rest of the world the tremendous effect that providing access to life-saving treatment is having on the lives of real people and their communities throughout Africa. This is an area where big and real results are happening, for very little money. The cost of life-saving ARV medication is now 40 cents per day and we have to maintain investment in order to ensure that millions more people don't die needlessly from this preventable and treatable disease."