A new British Sign Language and subtitled version of the award-winning ‘Life Growing Up’ film was launched last week by CHIVA, the children’s HIV society. The version has been created to enable the deaf community to access the vital HIV information and experiences presented in the film.

Life Growing Up is a performance based 12 minute film, derived from the arts engagement project Art is Key, which was run in partnership with Turtle Key Arts in 2018. A series of creative workshops explored the lived experiences of growing up with HIV with a group of 17-24 year olds from across the UK. The group worked with musicians, spoken word artists and performance art facilitators, to express and examine their experiences, challenges and successes.

The writing and production team of Danny Sheinman and Sarah Sutcliffe worked alongside the group throughout, and carried out extensive 1-2-1 interviews which went on to form the basis of the script. The film explores themes of finding out about your HIV diagnosis, maintaining medication adherence and clinic engagement, telling a friend or partner about your HIV, and the emotional and social impacts HIV can bring to young people’s lives.

The film originally launched to coincide with World AIDS Day 2018. The film has also been performed live at international and national conferences and events, including the International AIDS Society Conference and in the UK parliament.

In April 2020 Life Growing Up was awarded winner in the Longform Under £5 million Turnover Category at the Charity Film Awards.

Watch the new version of Life Growing Up below:

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