U.S. Filmmakers Help Bring AIDS Out of the Shadows in China

"We filmed without guarantees," Lennon said. "Those scenes had immediacy because she was in mid-crisis and agonizing over her decision." Julia knew she would run into a firestorm of problems, including risking her job and her place at the university, but gambled that the publicity would at least assure her of medical care. "There were a lot of frantic late-night phone calls."

"Hers was an almost American-style decision of choosing to go through the media when faced with a crisis to protect herself," Lennon said. "Instead of getting the usual shrouded, veiled and silhouetted face, she was fully visible. Yes, she said, I got it through premarital sex, a revelation perhaps banal by American standards now."

Lennon decided early on that his and Yang's work must be shown in China if it was to have a chance of making a difference. The two ended up producing several public service spots for Chinese media, one of them solicited by the Chinese Health Ministry.

One ad campaign features Yao Ming , the Houston Rockets' 7-foot-6 center, with former basketball star Magic Johnson , who has HIV. Images of the two shaking hands and sharing a meal with chopsticks appear on buses and billboards in China.

"There was no way that we wanted to go do work on AIDS in China without contributing in some way," Lennon said Wednesday from New York. "Otherwise, it would have been an act of hypocrisy."

"What we brought were some skills and a desire to help and then tried to follow the path where the resistance was least great," said Lennon, who had worked with Yang and Bill Moyers on the documentary "Becoming American," which traced Chinese immigration from the 19th century on.

In December 2003, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visited a clinic and had his picture taken shaking hands with an AIDS patient. The snapshot represented a 180-degree turn in the government's policy on talking about AIDS.

Jing, the professor, called the filmmakers and the people who helped them "accidental" heroes. "People act out of great kindness, not expecting their work to evolve on such a large scale," he said.