In recognition of World AIDS Day, The University of Toledo Medical Center and the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library are partnering to hold a film screening and panel discussion focused on the early days of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in northwest Ohio.
The free, public event begins at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1, at the Main Library Large Glass Meeting Room in downtown Toledo. Doors open at 5 p.m. and reservations are not required.
The film, “Sister Eileen and Her Boyz,” outlines the ministry of Sister Eileen Schieber, who served as vicar for religious for the Diocese of Toledo from 1986 to 1990.
Directed by Holly Hey, professor of film and video at The University of Toledo, the 30-minute documentary explores how Schieber and a local group of volunteers began a grassroots residency and care facility called David’s House Compassion, Inc. and the relationships Schieber formed with those who lived there. The film also highlights the work around HIV between Schieber and the Rev. James Robert Hoffman, who served as bishop of the Diocese of Toledo from 1981 until his death in 2003.
“Never did I think when growing up in the 1980s and 1990s in the rural northwest corner of Ohio that persons with HIV/AIDS were being served by Catholic ministry or any ministry, really,” Hey said. “Most of the stories that I was told were about how churches and their religious followers would turn persons with HIV/AIDS away.”
Hey was inspired to make the film to add visibility to the work of Schieber.
“Gay men, trans women and other persons with HIV/AIDS primarily needed her love and care because their families were literally leaving them to die,” she said.
Following the screening, there will be a panel discussion featuring Schieber and Hey, along with Dr. Joan Duggan, an infectious disease specialist and medical director of UTMC’s Ryan White Program, and Dr. Jeanine Diller, an associate professor of philosophy and religious studies at UToledo.
“Sister Eileen and Her Boyz” is part of the larger documentary series in process from Hey called “HIV in the Rust Belt” that focuses on the lives of local long-term HIV survivors and their connection to David’s House Compassion, which served hundreds of northwest Ohioans with HIV/AIDS from 1987 to 2006.
The 30-minute film was funded by UToledo, the Ann Wayson Locher Memorial Fund for HIV Care at the UToledo Foundation and Hey-Fearnside productions.
The UToledo College of Arts and Letters also will host a World AIDS Day screening of the film “Black Is… Black Ain’t” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, at the Center for Performing Arts, Center Theatre.
Directed by and featuring Marlon Riggs, a Black filmmaker who was seriously ill from AIDS-related complications and died before the film was completed, the film explores the complexity of Black identity through a blend of personal reflections, family stories, testimonies and conversations with people across the country — rural and urban, young and old, rich and poor.
Tickets for “Black Is… Black Ain’t” are $10. Individuals can purchase tickets online at utoledo.tix.com.
According to the Ohio Department of Health, 42 individuals living in Defiance, Fulton, Henry, Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood counties were newly diagnosed with HIV in 2021. The state health department reports nearly 1,400 people in those eight counties were living with HIV in 2021
Nationally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are approximately 1.2 million Americans aged 13 and older who are living with HIV.
Founded in 1988, World AIDS Day is meant to inspire people worldwide to join in the fight against HIV, show support for those living with HIV and commemorate those who have died from an AIDS-related illness.
