Sia’s gorgeous new song, “Free Me”, and the even more gorgeous video that goes with it both aim to spread awareness for the #endHIV campaign and benefit the Abzyme Research Foundation (all proceeds of the song will be used to advance a new potential HIV/AIDS cure).
The video, starring Zoe Saldana and narrated by Julianne Moore, details the story of an expectant mother who has just learned that she is HIV-positive and that without treatment the virus will enter her child. Zoe Saldana’s emotional performance calls on her years of dance training as the scene shifts from the doctor’s office to a dance sequence, wonderfully choreographed by Sia's longtime collaborator, Ryan Heffington.
Saldana cries, dances and acts out the tale. It’s a story of stigma and isolation, of abandonment and fear and resilience and the need for love.
Not long ago I heard Laurel Sprague say that “HIV is asking us to be a human family that does things differently.” To me, this speaks the same truth and it’s a welcome message though you probably won’t be able to get through it with a dry face any more than I could.