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Mwayi's Story

Mwayi’s Story is a story about courage, and about women standing up for their rights. The film is based on the story of a woman living with HIV in Malawi who was prosecuted for briefly breastfeeding another woman’s baby and the subsequent successful advocacy in Malawi to prevent an HIV criminalisation statute being passed. Ultimately, Mwayi’s Story is about justice!

  • Nicholas Feustel
    Director
  • Alison Symington
    Writer
  • Edwin Bernard
    Producer
  • Upile Chisala
    Key Cast
    "Narrator"
  • Phathu Nembilwi
    Illustrator
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Documentary, Short
  • Genres:
    Advocacy, Education, SRHR, Health
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 37 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 27, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    17,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Netherlands
  • Country of Filming:
    Germany, Malawi, South Africa
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Vector graphics animation
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Diamond TV

    Zambia
    May 20, 2022
    World Premiere
  • YouTube (HIV Justice Network)

    May 27, 2022
    Online Premiere
Director Biography - Nicholas Feustel

Nicholas Feustel is a filmmaker based in Germany specialising in documentaries on health and human rights, with a particular focus on HIV-related issues. His films include the Adolf Grimme Award-nominated documentary, I Want To Live, Don’t I?, and PrEP17 – The coming of age of PrEP, for the UK-based advocacy group PrEPster.

Nicholas has produced many videos for HJN, including one supporting the Oslo Declaration as well as the documentaries Doing HIV Justice and More Harm Than Good. Nicholas continues to support HJN with his video advocacy expertise, overseeing livestreaming events such as our flagship Beyond Blame webinars and the innovative webshow series, HIV Justice Live.

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Director Statement

“Since this story is primarily about mothers and children, we decided to produce the film in the style of an illustrated children’s storybook. We searched for a female illustrator working in sub-Saharan Africa and found the wonderful Phathu Nembilwi of Phathu Designs. For our narrator, we found Upile Chisala, a storyteller from Malawi known for her short and powerful poems.”