A Closer Walk

A Closer Walk is the first film to depict humankind's confrontation with the global AIDS epidemic. The film's director and producer, Robert Bilheimer, is an Academy Award nominee for his film Cry of Reason, a profile of the South African anti-apartheid leader Beyers Naude.

A Closer Walk was conceived with the late Jonathan Mann, architect of the World Health Organization's response to global AIDS. For the film, more than 50 women, men, and young people have been interviewed or profiled in the following regions and locations: Uganda, South Africa, Haiti, Switzerland, India, Nepal, Ukraine, Cambodia, and various locations in the United States including New York City, Kansas City, San Francisco, and Cambridge. Subjects and story lines encompass the broad spectrum of the global AIDS experience and include people with HIV/AIDS from all walks of life; AIDS children and orphans and those caring for them; doctors, nurses, and social workers; human rights advocates; and prominent scientists, economists, researchers, government leaders, and NGO officials.

The film's basic themes remain, what are the underlying causes of AIDS; the relationship between health, dignity, and human rights; and the universal need for action, compassion, and commitment to counter what has become the worst plague in human history. Several universally recognized individuals appear in the film as well. These include: His Holiness the Dalai Lama, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and Bono of U2. The interview with His Holiness was His first on the subject of "universal responsibility" in the context of the global AIDS epidemic.

Glenn Close and Will Smith are the film's narrators.