In an effort to engage more younger people in sexual health education, Bendigo Community Health Services have created a new film to promote their sexual health clinic.
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Castlemaine filmmaker Conor Moore directed the film, titled STI-mulating, and enlisted a group of his friends as cast and crew.
Mr Moore said it was important to make the film engaging to the young adult demographic.
“Sexual health is an important issues to talk about,” he said. “Getting checked for things (like STIs) shouldn’t be a scary process, it should be simple and easy to do without people judging you.”
The idea for the film came after BCHS sexual health nurse Mary-Anne McCluskey delivered an education session to a group of students.
“I talked about how our Clinic Central offers sexual health services that are free, confidential and non-judgemental,” she said,
“When I asked if they would now feel better about seeing a sexual health nurse the answer was ‘no’.
“They wanted to know what they would need to tell the receptionist, what the sexual health nurse would ask them and STI tests involved.”
Ms McCluskey said it was important to show young people, step-by-step, what an appointment with a sexual health nurse involved.
“We looked for someone willing to help by making a short clip to break down all the fears and misconceptions,” she said.
“Conor wrote the script, arranged the actors and did the filming. His professionalism was outstanding.”
Mr Moore said he wanted to present a film rather than a list of facts and details.
“We tried to add an actual story to it with a mix of humour and made sure to keep it visually interesting, not just details laid out,” he said.
Mr Moore said it took a few days of shooting combined with months of pre-production and editing to come up with the finished product.
“I had never shot something on this scale before but even with friends (as cast and crew) it was a relaxed and professional atmosphere,” he said.
For more information phone BCHS on 5448 1600.