Videos: 3 Needles

3 Needles movie trailer - starring Olympia Dukakis, Stockard Channing, Sandra Oh, Lucy Liu, Chloe Sevigny, Shawn Ashmore. Directed by Thom Fitzgerald. Theatrical Release Date: 12/1/2006 Genre: Drama Rating: R

3 Needles movie trailer - starring Olympia Dukakis, Stockard Channing, Sandra Oh, Lucy Liu, Chloe Sevigny, Shawn Ashmore. Directed by Thom Fitzgerald. Theatrical Release Date: 12/1/2006 Genre: Drama Rating: R

In South Africa, Clara is a Novice in the order of the Mission for the Propagation of the Faithful. Living among the tribes on the Wild Coast, her mission is to convert the rapidly dying Africans to Catholicism before it's too late, urging the dying to accept Jesus. Naive and optimistic, Clara strays from her mission and becomes embroiled in a futile struggle to help a family of orphans. When one of her charges is raped as part of folk cure, she makes a bargain with Mr. Hallyday, a wealthy Afrikaans plantation owner, which aids the children but risks her own salvation. In China, When Jin Ping sets up her mobile blood collection service in the tiny village of Tonghu, the local peasants rejoice and prosper. When one farmer, Tong Sam, is barred from selling his blood because he has the flu, he lies about his daughter's age so she can sell blood twice a month in his stead. Sam uses the money to improve his humble farm but by the time his abundant crop is ready for harvest, his wife and daughter are both mysteriously dead. Sam sets out on a journey across the province to find out why. He returns to find his entire village overwhelmed by disease, and Jin Ping's blood collection business disappeared into thin air. In Canada, Denys is a second rate porn actor who passes his monthly blood tests by stealing samples from his geriatric father. When Denys gets caught, his poverty-stricken family is thrown into turmoil. Facing the prospect of long-term care for her son, his weary waitress mother Olive hatches a fraud scheme to exploit her son's illness and wind up with millions.

A three-paneled look at the worldwide AIDS crisis: in Montreal, a porn actor (Ashmore) schemes to pass his mandatory blood test; a young nun (Sevigny) makes a personal sacrifice for the benefit of a South African village; in rural China, a black market operative (Liu) posing as a goverment-sanctioned blood drawer jeopardizes an entire village's safety.

Sister Hilde narrates three separates stories, each directly concerning the AIDS crisis. From a Montr al based order, Sister Hilde, Sister Mary and Clara, a novice, have just arrived in Africa to work as nurses in a plantation's medical center. They learn that legend there has it that having sex with a virgin will transfer infection out from oneself. Because of this legend, an infant girl is raped. Clara, who also learns the main cause of the virus' spread within the plantation, does whatever she can to ensure that Hallyday, the plantation owner, flexes his economic power to right the wrongs on the plantation. Back in Montr al, a porn actor named Denys has been cheating on his mandatory monthly HIV tests, using his father's blood to pass as his own. As he believes he has been exposed to the virus, the negative results will allow him to continue working. When he is caught, his mother, Olive, learns the hard way of her son's true HIV status and his occupation, and devises a strategy for his well being. Denys also learns the consequences of his actions. And in China, pregnant Jin Ping works in the black market trade of blood. She buys the blood of the majority of adults in one village, but only of those who qualify. After her visit, those who sold their blood begin to get sick. Tong Sam, a rice farmer who was ill the day of the blood sale and thus could not give, has to figure out why all those around him are getting sick and dying, including members of his own family.