Today the Hawk Takes One Chick (2007)
with Jane Gillooly
TODAY THE HAWK TAKES ONE CHICK (2007, work in progress) with Jane Gillooly
4:00 pm, Vinegar Hill Theater
Director: Jane Gillooly
Cinematographer: Jane Gillooly
Running Time: 73 min
In Swaziland, the circle of life has been turned on its head. Grandmothers – or Gogo, as they are called in SiSwati and many southern African languages – watch their adult children die of AIDS and are forced to raise their many grandchildren on their own. Great documentaries have the power to personalize seemingly incomprehensible world issues, breaking barriers of distance and language to present the human condition across cultures. Few achieve that feat as well as Jane Gillooly’s Today the Hawk Takes One Chick, which presents the stories of three African Gogos living in a society at the threshold of simultaneous collapse and reinvention, organizing into communities at an age when they expected that their adult children would be taking care of them. Gillooly’s direction shines light on the individual suffering and perseverance of those afflicted by AIDS. For 73 minutes, Gillooly’s work invites the audience to live in a world where HIV affects everyone and forces us to ponder the fate of its people. The cinematography and sound recording is sensitive, observant, and mesmerizing; we feel drawn in as participants, overwhelmed and inspired by the challenges the Gogos face, with not enough support.
In this work-in-progress, filmmaker Jane Gillooly documents the struggles of the Gogo to organize into communities at an age when they expected that their adult children would be taking care of them. The Gogo Project is a consortium of international aid organizations working to provide seeds and fertilizers for gardens, shoes and school uniforms for the children, and profitable trade skills to the Gogo so that they can support their new households.
October 12th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
How would someone in Green Bay Wisconsin be able to view this important documentary?
March 20th, 2008 at 10:39 am
This film sounds extremely interesting to me. My daughter has been in Swaziland with an organization, Adventures in Missions, since 2004. She works with the Gogos (grandmothers) in the rural area near Mbabane and is quite involved in their struggles. She has established a craft co-op called Timbali Crafts, which provides supplies and instruction for the ladies to make unique handbags. Hundreds have sold in the states as well as to people traveling and working in Swaziland. It has provided a much needed income for the women to feed, cloth and educate their children and grandchildren. Will this film ever be available on DVD?