Meet the team

PROTECTION was made by award-winning South African filmmakers – Emmy award-winning director Francois Verster, and producer Neil Brandt and his team from Fireworx Media.

Francois Verster, one of South Africa’s foremost filmmakers, has a background in writing, music, academia and film. His films have been screened worldwide and won numerous festival awards.

Neil Brandt is one of South Africa’s leading creative producers. Over and above his work on numerous television projects, Neil has taken to market a number of well-travelled, award-winning documentary films, which have won dozens of awards locally and internationally.

The film initiative was spearheaded by executive producer Jill Lewis, who collaborated closely with the film team. An HIV and feminist/gender activist and educator, Jill has worked in a number of countries and across a range cultures, supporting HIV prevention initiatives since 1986.

PROTECTION was inspired by capacity building trainings on gender and HIV prevention that she conducted under the auspices of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Education Programme. These took place with NRC-supported teacher trainers, teachers and youth in post-war, refugee and IDP settings in Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland.

Interactions with men and boys in these workshops highlighted the urgent need for wider discussion about AIDS, about HIV, its prevention and treatment, and for additional resources to support men and boys in their attempts to avoid or manage HIV. The condom film project developed as a response to this need.

The Norwegian government (Norad) provided generous financial support for the film and its distribution to sub-Saharan African HIV initiatives.

The film project also had a dynamic international advisory group, comprising people highly experienced in different aspects of HIV prevention work. They supported the development of its vision and sparked different angles of its explorations over the past five years. 

The project received encouragement, support and inspiration from the Education and Gender sections of the NRC, as well as backing from both the MedHum Action Committee of the Norwegian Medical Students’ Association and Hampshire College, Amherst, where Jill works as Professor of Literature and Gender Studies each Spring.