"Three-and-a-half Lives of Philip Wetu" - An Interactive Film

The storyline of the film revolves around Philip who lives with his loyal long-term girlfriend, Genevieve, but is also involved with four other women - Tulonga, Finelda, Jacky, and Nailoke. Philip is envied by his buddies for his "success" with women, but, as the film shows, his lifestyle gets him into situations where he has to make choices that can have negative consequences on his and his lovers’ lives. For example, will he be honest about his affair or will he go for an HIV test?

According to the producers, what makes the film unique is its format. It is an interactive drama that allows viewers to influence the story. When the protagonist of the story needs to make a decision, the audience gets to decide for him and the story continues in different ways, depending on the choices made. Through one storyline, this happens three times, therefore leading to eight different possible endings.

Since the film's decision points, as well as its content, provide many entry points for discussion, the producers felt that the impact of the film would increase when screened and facilitated by trained facilitators. A handbook and a training module were therefore developed in order to train "Life Choices Facilitators". Between June and October 2009, 130 Life Choices Facilitators from a variety of organisations and institutions were trained and are now screening and facilitating the film in their respective workplaces, schools, support groups, and communities all over the country.

According to the producers, the format of the film – allowing viewers to influence the story – provides great opportunities for personalised discussions and aims to initiate a mindshift related to viewers' personal behaviours. The film does not tell people what to do, but rather triggers self-reflection and stimulates a reassessment of personal risk.

"Three and a Half Lives of Philip Wetu" also highlights the fact that nobody is immune to HIV/AIDS and that people who have multiple sexual relations are contributing to one of the major drivers of the epidemic. The film also seeks to dispel the belief that HIV is a disease of the poor as it shows how the disease has entered every sector of society.

Click here to view the trailer on Youtube.

HIV/AIDS

The development of the interactive drama "Three and a Half Lives of Philip Wetu" by Media Logistics Namibia was initiated through the "Multisectoral HIV/AIDS Control Programme" together with the Goethe-Centre Windhoek. The Multisectoral HIV/AIDS Control Programme, implemented by German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and German Development Service (DED) and hosted by the Ministry of Health and Social Services, is funded by the German Government through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). NawaLife Trust and PEPFAR through the American Cultural Centre have contributed additional funding to this project.

The first interactive "Life Choices" film was developed and produced in Uganda in the context of a cooperation between the Ugandan Ministry of Youth and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ). Inspired by the work done in Uganda, the concept of an interactive film was adopted to create a Namibian Life Choices version focusing on truly Namibian stories and problems. At the time when the concept for the film was developed, there was a lot of discussion around how to increase male involvement in awareness creation and in the response at large. For that reason, the film features a male main character and is set in an urban environment.