UNAIDS: ‘Olimbi – Mother Courage’ HIV documentary wins Geneva film festival Impact Award

UNAIDS feature story

‘Olimbi – Mother Courage’ HIV documentary won the StoryBoard Impact Award at the Geneva Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH).

“After twenty years of leading the HIV fight in Albania, I have never won any awards in my country and here I win this big prize,” said Olimbi Hoxhaj, the protagonist of the documentary and the founder of the Albanian association of people living with HIV. “This is recognition for me and for all people living with HIV.” 

After her husband’s death in 2003, Olimbi Hoxhaj learned that she and three of her four children were HIV positive in Albania, where treatment did not exist. Confronting stigma, institutional neglect, and patriarchal silence, she transformed personal loss into public action. The film reveals how one mother’s courage reshaped public awareness and helped secure treatment for thousands. It reframes HIV beyond the persistent myth of it being a disease of one community and calls for direct action to test; treat; prevent.

“‘Olimbi – Mother Courage’ aims to humanize HIV via a mother’s story and educate people and get them to test, treat and prevent others from getting infected,” said Karlo Mlinar, director and impact producer of the documentary. Reflecting on the award, Mr Mlinar said that the (CHF 10 000) USD $12 000 cash prize was a great push for the project, which he hopes to finish in February 2027. 

Read the full story here.

Watch excerpts from the EATG Women Converse webinar ‘The silent heroine: Olimbi’s extraordinary HIV activism in Albania’, featuring ‘Olimbi – Mother Courage’ trailer.