Mitr Clinic - Pride and Beyond

USAID and PEPFAR supported Program ACCELERATE, implemented by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHU SOM) in partnership with YRG Care, The Fenway Institute and the Blue Lotus Advisory under the leadership of National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and State AIDS Control Societies (SACS’).

ACCELERATE launched India’s first comprehensive clinic with & for the Transgender Community in Hyderabad in January 2021. Mitr [Hindi for ‘friend’ implies extending conversations based on friendship and empathy that support understand the real needs and issues of transgender population] clinic provides comprehensive services for the transgender community and serves as a working model on how to reach vulnerable marginalized populations. This documentary shows the collective effort of the Hyderabad Mitr clinic team in fighting and finding their way to acceptance and establishing pride in their identity, paving the way for more. This film highlights that ‘non-HIV entry-points’ can play a crucial role in ensuring access to life saving HIV services for people/communities who need them the most.

This clinic and the documentary film were made possible by the active cooperation of the Trans community in Telangana.

Featuring

Simran Bharucha – Director (Transgender Health), Project ACCELERATE

Shreya Reddy – Clinic Manager, Mitr clinic Hyderabad

Prachi Rathod – Medical Officer, Mitr clinic, Hyderabad

Shahasra, Shaina, Kesar – Community representatives

Staff, Mitr clinic Hyderabad

Transgender Community, Hyderabad

Credits

Director - Shrikkanth Govindarajan

Writer - Akshay Parvatkar

D.O.P - Amal Sudhakaran

Editor & Post Producer - Christy Sebastian

Music Composer & Singer - Varkey

Sound design & Mix - Varkey

Sound Recordist - Alvin Jadhav

DI Colorist - Manu Madhav

DI Line Producer - Neeraj Kumar

AS DI Conformist - Sreedhar V

Subtitles - Ashley Sam Alexander

VFX & Title Graphics. - Thinesh Kumar

Guitars & Sound Editing - Sreesankar Sree

Camera Assistant - Jitendra Mahato

Post-Production Studios - Focus Ring Studios, D Cloud Creations, Varkey’s Station

From Program ACCELERATE (Concept, Production and Post-production)

Aditya Singh, Sunil Solomon, Subash Ghosh, Simran Bharucha, Rachana Mudraboyina, Parthasarathy M.R. Anthony Reddy, Sukaran Thakur, Amy Halligan, Rose Pollard, Rishi S Baba, Ashmita Singh, Reha Malik, Vijay Reddy

The film was premiered at the American Center, on the eve of World AIDS Day 2021.