Bigger Than This Manhattan

Little Tanisha's (age 6) mom is dying of AIDS. "How big is your worry?" an unseen interviewer asks her. "Bigger than this, bigger than that, bigger than this Manhattan," she answers. Basically a series of interviews with kids aged 6-15, produced by the Family Center in Manhattan, the program explores the difficulties children face in having a parent with HIV/AIDS. Older kids mention that they get in a lot of fights, a young boy says he can't share his problems with any of his friends, while another child talks about how caring for her parent is tough on her. This video's purpose is to show kids in similar situations that they aren't alone--which it does--but it would have been nice to have a bit of context as we "meet" these kids (we don't even know their names or ages until the end when we see a series of fuzzy polaroids). Also, we never see the parents in question, either in photos or in interactions. The kids are mostly talking heads against a curtain backdrop, except for when the camera is jerking around trying to frame them (rather distracting). I wanted to hear their stories (as the box promised) but instead got a lot of sound bites. Optional. Aud: P. (E. Gieschen)