Staffan Hildebrand bought sex from vulnerable men during AIDS missions

In 1987, the director Staffan Hildebrand was tasked with filming and documenting the spread of HIV around the world under the banner of the Karolinska Institutet. The work continued for over thirty years and became part of the unique Face of AIDS film archive.

- I got to travel around the world. It was really exciting. I am very proud of what I did with that project, says Staffan Hildebrand in the program.

The archive is operated and provided by the Karolinska Institutet and consists of almost 800 hours of documentary film material.

During the work, Staffan Hildebrand met people around the world who worked with or were affected by the disease in various ways.

Gave them money for sex

In Document from the inside, the director now tells us that during the project he simultaneously used the assignment to have sexual contacts with young vulnerable boys and men.

- It was my passion to document this process with the research. But it happened as a spinoff, he says in the program.

According to him, it often involved young activists in poor countries, who were involved in the project in various ways and that he also gave them money.

- Not much, but I gave them money, he says.

He also says that he bought sex from young prostitutes while working on the project.

KI's answer: Takes a distance

In connection with Staffan Hildebrand admitting sexual abuse in 2021, the Karolinska Institute added a comment on the archive's website where, among other things, they distanced themselves from sexual abuse.

The Karolinska Institute has declined an interview in the documentary, but responded in a written comment to Dokument from within that the university's ethics committee has processed the archive on two occasions and "as far as KI is aware, there is no information that people who participate in the films have been subjected to the actions described".