This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2022) |
3 Needles | |
---|---|
Directed by | Thom Fitzgerald |
Written by | Thom Fitzgerald |
Produced by | Thom Fitzgerald Bryan Hofbauer |
Starring | Shawn Ashmore Stockard Channing Tanabadee Chokpikultong Isabelle Cyr Olympia Dukakis Sook-Yin Lee Lucy Liu Sandra Oh Ian Roberts Chloë Sevigny Sandra Oh Anele Solwandle |
Cinematography | Thomas M. Harting |
Edited by | Susan Shanks |
Music by | Christophe Beck Trevor Morris |
Production companies | Bigfoot Entertainment Emotion Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 127 minutes |
Country | Canada |
Languages | Afrikaans Mandarin Xhosa French English |
Box office | $12,327 [1] |
3 Needles is a 2005 Canadian drama film directed by Thom Fitzgerald. The title refers to the three main characters who make a deal with the Devil in order to survive a global epidemic. The plot deals with interwoven stories of persons around the world who are dealing with HIV and AIDS, and stars Shawn Ashmore, Olympia Dukakis, Lucy Liu, Stockard Channing, Chloë Sevigny, and Sandra Oh.
The film was screened at various film festivals, and was given a limited release in the United States on December 1, 2006.
A group of young men in South Africa, undergo a rite of passage symbolizing their change from boyhood into manhood.
In rural China, a heavily pregnant Jin Ping is caught by Chinese military men with crates of black market blood in her van. The blood is destroyed and she is subsequently gang raped. Jin Ping is then shown visiting a village and convincing the inhabitants to give blood for $5 each. They all agree, except Tong Sam, a rice farmer, as he is unable to give blood as he is sick. However, as Jin Ping's equipment is not safe, most of the people in the village contract HIV and die of AIDS, including Tong Sam's family. The military men led by Xuan arrive in the village to help with the disease, and they help Tong Sam grow rice, which he then gives out to his remaining neighbors. Government officials arrive in the town to test people for AIDS, but the testing is $10 per person, which one neighbor thinks is a scam because it "cost $5 when she gave me the virus."
In Canada, porn star Denys thinks he may be HIV positive. He cheats his monthly blood tests by taking blood samples from his ailing father instead of providing his own blood. Eventually his father dies, and his mother Olive finds out her son's job, much to her dismay. Denys subsequently quits his job. Olive finds out that her son is HIV positive when she goes to meet him at a self-help group. She then decides to infect herself with the HIV virus by drinking Denys's blood, and then gets a substantial pay-off from her health insurance company. She uses the money to provide a better life for her and Denys. One night they go out for dinner, and they are waited on by Maria, a former colleague of Denys. She informs him that she, and several other porn actors, are now infected with HIV because of Denys. She says "you killed me for $800".
In South Africa, where three nuns Clara, Mary, and Hilde arrive at a plantation where they are to give aid. Clara who is very head-strong goes to great lengths to look after the family of a young rape victim, whose grandmother has died, and who is cared for by her older brother. She asks for help from the plantation owner Hallyday, who makes sexual advances on her. Eventually she gives in and allows Hallyday to have sex with her, if he agrees to help the family she looks after. She eventually discovers that the older brother in the family is re-using the plantation's needles, effectively spreading infections amongst the people who live and work there. Following this, three men break into the nuns' bedroom and rape them. The nuns leave the plantation soon after, but as the car pulls away, Clara gets out and walks back to the plantation, removing her habit as she goes.
The epilogue is narrated by Hilde, who is revealed to be a Saint and has heard the prayers of everyone from the three stories detailed above. She wonders why the human race will not unite in the face of their common enemy, AIDS, and decides that God, or at least the way people believe in him, is to blame for this failure.
3 Needles debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival, was also shown at festivals in London, Stockholm, Karlovy Vary, Seattle, and Pusan. It made its commercial release in the United States at the New York City Museum of Modern Art on December 1, 2006 (World AIDS Day). Leading up to its U.S. premier, it was heavily promoted by the United Nations Global Media AIDS Initiative.
The film won prizes for cinematography and direction at the Atlantic Film Festival. Fitzgerald was nominated for a Canadian Director's Guild Award for Best Direction of a Feature Film; additionally, Variety praised its "exceptional performances".
Where the Heart Is is a 2000 American romantic drama film directed by Matt Williams and starring Natalie Portman, Stockard Channing, Ashley Judd, and Joan Cusack with supporting roles by James Frain, Dylan Bruno, Keith David, and Sally Field. The screenplay, written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, is based on the best-selling 1995 novel of the same name by Billie Letts. The film follows five years in the life of Novalee Nation, a pregnant 17-year-old who is abandoned by her boyfriend at a Walmart in a small Oklahoma town. She secretly moves into the store, where she eventually gives birth to her baby, which attracts media attention. With the help of friends, she makes a new life for herself in the town.
Chloë Stevens Sevigny is an American actress. Known for her work in independent films, often appearing in controversial or experimental features, Sevigny is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, as well as a nomination for an Academy Award.
Stockard Channing is an American actress. She played Betty Rizzo in the film Grease (1978) and First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing (1999–2006). She also originated the role of Ouisa Kittredge in the stage and film versions of Six Degrees of Separation; the 1993 film version earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
Kids is a 1995 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Larry Clark in his directorial debut and written by Harmony Korine in his screenwriting debut. It stars Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, Chloë Sevigny, and Rosario Dawson, all in their film debuts. Fitzpatrick, Pierce, Sevigny, Dawson, and other newcomers portray a group of teenagers in New York City. They are characterized as hedonists, who engage in sexual acts and substance abuse, over the course of a single day.
Jurnee Diana Smollett is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress appearing on television sitcoms, including On Our Own (1994–1995) and Full House (1992–1994). She gained greater recognition with her role in Kasi Lemmons's independent film Eve's Bayou (1997), which earned her a Critics' Choice Movie Award.
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is a 1999 fantasy novel by American writer Gregory Maguire, retelling the tale of Cinderella through the eyes of one of her "ugly stepsisters." In 2002, the book was adapted into a TV movie of the same name directed by Gavin Millar.
Thomas "Thom" Fitzgerald is an American-Canadian film and theatre director, screenwriter, playwright and producer.
The People's Republic of China's first reported AIDS case was identified in 1985 in a dying tourist. In 1989, the first indigenous cases were reported as an outbreak in 146 infected heroin users in Yunnan province, near China's southwest border.
So Close to Paradise is a 1998 Chinese film directed by Wang Xiaoshuai, a member of Chinese cinema's so-called Sixth Generation. It is alternatively known by the English title Ruan's Song or by its original Chinese title, The Girl From Vietnam. The film was a coproduction of the Beijing Film Studio, and Beijing Jin Die Yingshi Yishu, as such, it is Wang's first major film production within the Chinese studio system. The film's literal title, The Pole-Carrier and the Girl, refers to two of the main characters played by Shi Yu and Wang Tong.
Moll Flanders is a 1996 American period drama film starring Robin Wright and Morgan Freeman, loosely based on the 1722 novel of the same name by Daniel Defoe. The film, which vastly differs from the original novel, was written and directed by Pen Densham. The original music score was composed by Mark Mancina.
Hollywood Hong Kong is a 2001 Hong Kong film directed by Fruit Chan, with screenplay written by Kei To Lam. The film was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 58th Venice International Film Festival. It is the second instalment of his "Prostitute trilogy" which Chan directed from 2000–02. The other two movies in the trilogy are Durian Durian (2000) and Three Husbands (2018).
Sweet Revenge is a 1976 American crime film directed by Jerry Schatzberg. It was entered into the 1976 Cannes Film Festival. It was the second leading role for actress Stockard Channing in a film, following the previous year's The Fortune in which she co-starred opposite Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty.
A pin prick attack is an assault on another person with a needle or syringe tainted with the blood of somebody carrying a blood-borne disease, such as HIV. Although there have been numerous cases of people being attacked with needles and syringes, the idea that people infected with AIDS have deliberately attempted to infect others in this manner is generally considered an urban legend: Real cases of infection of HIV in this manner were typically taken from infected victims rather than from infected attackers.
The Room Upstairs is a 1987 American made-for-television drama film based on the novel The Room Upstairs by Norma Levinson, starring Stockard Channing, Sam Waterston, Joan Allen and Linda Hunt. The young Jerry O'Connell, Devoreaux White and Sarah Jessica Parker all have small supporting roles. The film aired as a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation on CBS on January 31, 1987 and was later distributed on DVD.
Asmaa or Asma'a is a 2011 Egyptian drama film, and is the first such feature film to present AIDS patients sympathetically. Written and directed by Amr Salama, the film tells the history of a woman with HIV who struggles to live under the burden of keeping her HIV status secret, and the dilemma she faces when offered the opportunity to appear on a television talk show. It is based on a true story of a woman who died from a burst gallbladder after doctors refused to operate on her because she had AIDS. The director, Amr Salama, intended the film to raise awareness about AIDS: in his words, to correct the "misconceptions and lies" about the disease, since more people are dying from the misconceptions than from the lack of treatment. The film is not about AIDS, but rather the battle against social prejudice in Egypt.
Catherine Gund is an American producer, director, and writer who founded Aubin Pictures in 1996.
Behind the Red Door is a 2003 drama film directed by Matia Karrell. The lead characters in the movie are Kyra Sedgwick, Kiefer Sutherland and Stockard Channing. The film depicts the relationship between a sister and her brother, who is suffering from the fatal disease AIDS.
Lizzie is a 2018 American biographical thriller film directed by Craig William Macneill, written by Bryce Kass, and starring Chloë Sevigny, Kristen Stewart, Jay Huguley, Jamey Sheridan, Fiona Shaw, Kim Dickens, Denis O'Hare, and Jeff Perry. It is based on the true story of Lizzie Borden, who was accused and acquitted of the axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1892. Sevigny also served as a co-producer.
Together is a 2010 Chinese film directed by Zhao Liang. It was filmed beside the Chinese film Love for Life, and chronicles the everyday lives of a variety of different people living in China with HIV/AIDS. The film depicts the living conditions of those living with HIV in China, as well as their own personal thoughts on their disease. Together, like the film Love for Life, was commissioned by the Ministry of Health and backed by the Chinese government. Zhao Liang has been seen as a rebel director, producing documentaries that expose the Chinese government of wrongdoing. For instance, his documentary Petition focused on mistreatment of Chinese by local authorities and government officials. Unlike his previous works, Together was made with the Chinese government and was censored, without mention of the mishandling of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1990s and the cover-up by the government. Instead, the documentary focuses more on the actual lives of individuals with HIV/AIDS instead of touching on the past blood-sharing scandal in villages.
Teresa Ha was a former Chinese television and film actress from Hong Kong. Ha is credited with over 260 films.