Eduardo Casanova discloses his HIV status: “Today I break this unpleasant & painful silence”
Casanova directed the recent vampire AIDS series 'Silencio' starring Omar Ayuso.
Mark
Spanish actor and filmmaker Eduardo Casanova, who wrote and directed the recently released vampire AIDS miniseries Silencio starring Omar Ayuso, has opened up about his HIV-positive status for the first time.
The 34-year-old took to social media to share his truth after keeping it hidden for years.
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“Today I break this unpleasant and painful silence after MANY years,” Casanova wrote. ” A silence that we keep and that many of us living with HIV suffer from. I do it WHEN I WANT. WHEN I CAN. I DO IT FOR MYSELF, but I hope this can help more people. I do it my way, through cinema, which is my way of communicating.”
Casanova described the stigma still associated with the diagnosis and how he is moving forward without shame.
“But most of all I do WITH DIGNITY. Dignity should be the way in which all people with HIV could get out of the closet,” he added. “About 80% of people with HIV have not shared with almost anyone who has the infection, because of a stigma that condemns us to systematic and most unfair rejection in the world.”
The filmmaker finished by expressing the relief he has felt by unburdening himself.
“Despite the fear and uncertainty, today I feel deeply happy,” he wrote.
Along with his personal disclosure, Casanova shared a teaser from an upcoming documentary centered on his coming to terms with publicly announcing his status. He said more info would be disclosed later but that the doc would be released in Spanish theaters in 2026.
Casanova began his career as a child actor in Spain having garnered fame playing a gay teen on the popular series Aida.
He went on to direct the 2017 drama Skins (Pieles) and the 2022 horror Piety (La piedad).
Omar Ayuso
Since Casanova shared the news of his HIV status on Thursday, the post has received more than 86K likes and a slew of words of support.
Among the throngs of comments was an especially endearing message from Omar Ayuso, who wrote: “i’m so proud of you 
i love you edu.”
Ayuso’s good friend Javier Giner, who directed the Elite alum in the Spanish series Yo, Adicto, also sent his encouragement by adding: “I love you and admire you Edu.”
As mentioned earlier, Ayuso stars in Casanova’s wild horror-themed series Silencio, which uses vampires as a metaphor to explore stigmatization and rejection surrounding AIDS.
Set across different timelines, the three-episode series follows a family of lesbian vampires who face a shortage of “clean” human blood during the onslaught of the Black Plague in the 14th Century and AIDS in ’80s.
The show’s title also bares reference to the powerful Silence = Death slogan that along with the pink triangle was adopted by ACT UP in the ’80s as a rallying cry to raise HIV/AIDS awareness and activism.
Prior to announcing his HIV status, Casanova described his motivation behind making Silencio.
“I think HIV/AIDS is a subject that’s been mistreated in cinema,” he told the Spanish outlet Kinotico. “And to break that silence and destigmatize it, we need new narratives and perspectives that speak about it: women, homosexuals, HIV-positive people.”
Silencio premiered in Spain on December 1st, World AIDS Day, but has yet to receive distribution in the US.
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