By Arun Kumar,

Washington, Sep 1 (IANS) Academy Award nominee Robert Bilheimer's film about the global AIDS epidemic, "A Closer Walk", may be screened on India's Doordarshan and China's CCTV on World AIDS Day Dec 1.

Filmed on four continents over a period of three years, "A Closer Walk" depicts the realities of global AIDS and explores the relationship between health, dignity and human rights.

"This is a story about the way the world is," says narrator Glenn Close as the film looks at the world through the prism of AIDS, taking the viewer to locations in the US, Ukraine, Uganda, South Africa, India, and Haiti, and offers personal stories of children, women and men around the world who are affected by the disease.

Those caring or advocating for people living with AIDS are featured prominently in the film as well. They include Paul Farmer of Partners In Health, India's Suniti Solomon and Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

Narrated by Close and Will Smith, "A Closer Walk" features cinematography by Richard D. Young, interviews with the Dalai Lama, Bono, and Kofi Annan, and musical contributions by Annie Lennox, the Neville Brothers, Eric Clapton and Sade.

The United Nations and other agencies have sponsored premieres and distribution programmes in Ukraine, India, South Africa, Cambodia, and Thailand of the 80-minute documentary that made its US television debut Thursday.

Describing his approach to the film, director Robert Bilheimer said: "When I interviewed [UNAIDS Executive Director] Peter Piot early on, I was struck by his insight that 'AIDS is part of the human condition', and that 'AIDS exists because we exist'.

"When Peter said that, I knew that 'A Closer Walk' should indeed be a film about the way the world is, and that my colleagues and I would need to be in and of the world for a period of time to truly understand what AIDS is doing to us all."

Conceived in 1996 with the late Jonathan Mann - widely regarded as the architect of the international response to global AIDS - "A Closer Walk" took three years to develop, three years to make, and in 2007 will enter its fourth year of a steadily expanding distribution campaign.

"The whole point", says Bilheimer, "was to level the playing field in terms of what we all - as a human family - understand about AIDS. Making a film that would somehow engage people around the world on this issue was obviously a challenge on the creative side. But the equal challenge, on the distribution side, was to put the movie in front of, literally, hundreds of millions of people. We are going to achieve that this year."

The film has been shown at hundreds of school and college campuses around the world, and been used as a primary education and awareness tool by advocacy groups, corporations, the United Nations, the US State Department and prominent AIDS organisations.

"A Closer Walk" has received international critical acclaim. Writing for the Gannett News Service, Chief Film Critic Jack Garner gave the film his highest rating, calling it a "beautifully told story of suffering that inspires hope and action".

Reviewing the film prior to its national airing on South African television, Claire Keaton of the Sunday Times described the film as "unforgettable".