Hand Held (2010)

Directed by

Don Hahn

Genre

documentary film, LGBTQ-related film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 25m

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary follows photojournalist Mike Carroll as he documents the pediatric AIDS crisis in Romania after the fall of Ceaușescu. It shows his two-decade effort to bring aid to the children through his charity Romanian Children's Relief.

soberinghopefulvisceralemotionally heavyintimateearnestreflectiveslow-paced

What happens

Hand Held is a 2010 documentary feature film about photojournalist Mike Carroll, one of the first photographers to travel to Romania after the fall of the communist regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu in 1989. When he arrived, he walked into one of the most horrific scenes of the 20th century. His photographs and heart wrenching stories of the pediatric AIDS epidemic in Romania ran in the Boston Globe and New York Times and opened the eyes of the western world to the plight of Romanian children. The film chronicles Carroll's twenty-year journey to bring aid to children in a country he hardly knew, through the organization he founded, Romanian Children's Relief (RCR). The film is produced and directed by Don Hahn. After a charity premiere at WGBH in Boston, the film was selected for participation in the Heartland Film Festival, and has been the official selection of the Boulder International Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, and the Rhode Island International Film Festival. Hand Held's European premiere was in Bucharest in late 2010. The director Don Hahn and subject Mike Carroll were introduced by United States Ambassador Mark Gitenstein who was in attendance at the premiere. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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