Director’s Statement

The making of Promise Me was a creative and spiritual journey for me.

Over the past 15 years, I have directed three documentaries looking at racialized women living with HIV. Never in my life, have I been so emotionally touched and affected by such extreme social injustice and horrific treatment than with Black people living with HIV trying to navigate their health care needs in Toronto, Canada. Promise Me is inspired by a courageous woman named Rhonda, who was featured in the documentary The Women I Have Become that I directed about the systemic oppression of Black women in the health sector.

Unfortunately, Rhonda passed away before the production ended and the end result was censored by a child welfare agency who apprehended her children and made them crown wards of the state a week prior to her passing. Rhonda has remained with me ever since. I desperately wanted to show the inhumanity and isolation that she experienced but knew that the story had to be told in a different way and combine a lot of thoughts that I had about the systemic oppression of Black families. Promise Me is a result of this inspiration and me embracing a new genre. The style of the film is inspired by the images of Rhonda that stayed with me. However, the film is more symbolic in nature. My intention with Promise Me is to build awareness and break the chains of stigma. Let’s do it together.

- Alison Duke