In 1992, at the height of the AIDS pandemic, activist Terence Alan Smith made a historic bid for president of the United States as his drag queen persona Joan Jett Blakk. Today, Smith reflects back on his seminal civil rights campaign and its place in American history.
Using drama, comedy, and music, this video addresses safer sex, AIDS hysteria, relationships, homophobia, the hazards of sharing needles. Young people are encouraged to examine their ideas, attitudes, and practices, and to make personal health choices based on accurate information. What's wrong with this picture? was written by young people for young people. It uses young people's language and experiences, proving particularly effective where other forms of AIDS education have failed.
Gabriel Drolet-Maguire, a designer living in Montreal, takes us into their artistic world to discuss their HIV diagnosis. This is a timely and hopeful look at past and present day HIV/AIDS activism in Quebec.
This follow-up to the 1989 documentary ONE YEAR IN A LIFE OF CRIME revisits three of the original subjects in New Jersey during a five-year period in the 1990s. We share in their triumphs and setbacks as they navigate lives of poverty, drug abuse, AIDS, and petty crime.
Letter Beyond the Walls reconstructs the trajectory of HIV and AIDS with a focus on Brazil, through interviews with doctors, activists, patients and other actors, in addition to extensive archival material. From the initial panic to awareness campaigns, passing through the stigma imposed on people living with HIV, the documentary shows how society faced this epidemic in its deadliest phase over more than two decades. With this historical approach as its base, the film looks at the way HIV is viewed in today's society, revealing a picture of persistent misinformation and prejudice, which especially affects Brazil’s most historically vulnerable populations.
From the sweaty basement bars of 70s New York to the glittering peak of the global charts, how disco conquered the world - its origins, its triumphs, its fall and its legacy.
Heart Murmurs is a poetic dialogue between the filmmaker and Dean, a young man living in Hong Kong. In reflecting on his experience living with a congenital disability and HIV during the first years of the COVID pandemic, Dean expresses his sense of self in the face of regular medical challenges.
A musical documentary accompaniment to the 1994 benefit compilation album concerning AIDS in the African-American community.
A collage-like, incisive look at the life of writer, painter and thinker David Wojnarowicz, whose powerful, unapologetic way of seeing the world gave voice to queer rights at a critical time in US history.
The story of the extraordinary final chapter of Freddie Mercury’s life and how, after his death from AIDS, Queen staged one of the biggest concerts in history, the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium, to celebrate his life and challenge the prejudices around HIV/AIDS. For the first time, Freddie's story is told alongside the experiences of those who tested positive for HIV and lost loved ones during the same period. Medical practitioners, survivors, and human rights campaigners recount the intensity of living through the AIDS pandemic and the moral panic it brought about.
Fictionalized documentary about the history of HIV/AIDS in Argentina from its inception up until 2006.
Though legendary lyricist Howard Ashman died far too young, his impact on Broadway, movies, and the culture at large were incalculable. Told entirely through rare archival footage and interviews with Ashman’s family, friends, associates, and longtime partner Bill Lauch, Howard is an intimate tribute to a once-in-a-generation talent and a rousing celebration of musical storytelling itself.
It explores the last two years of Brazilian singer Cazuza's life, from his AIDS diagnosis until his death. Nilo Romero, Cazuza's music producer and the film's director, created a collection of rarely seen and controversial images.
United in Anger: A History of ACT UP is an inspiring documentary about the birth and life of the AIDS activist movement from the perspective of the people in the trenches fighting the epidemic. Utilizing oral histories of members of ACT UP, as well as rare archival footage, the film depicts the efforts of ACT UP as it battles corporate greed, social indifference, and government negligence.
After the Stonewall riots and at the height of the gay liberation movement in America, an entire generation were busy celebrating their newfound emancipation, unaware of an impending epidemic. A disease that seemed determined to wipe out an entire generation of gay men, was largely ignored by politicians and the mainstream media. Gaetan Dugas was a French-Canadian flight attendant, who offered to help early scientific research into the origins of AIDS. An unfortunate series of events followed and he would be vilified as Patient Zero, the man who gave us AIDS.
A short film mostly comprised of two sources: research footage from 1988 about the beginnings of the HIV epidemic from the perspective of medical professionals, and an interview with Cleve Jones in 2003 as he looks back upon his activism, and the state of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the early 2000s.
As the AIDS epidemic was spreading in 1987, the Swedish government commissioned Roy Andersson to make an educational film about the disease. In these twenty or so monotone scenes, Andersson criticizes the medical community for its dehumanizing and racist tendencies when researching HIV and AIDS.
Seizing her power as she confronts her mortality, trailblazing trans activist Connie Norman evolves as an irrepressible, challenging and soulful voice for the AIDS and queer communities of early 90's Los Angeles.
This timely exploration of Hollywood and LGBTQ+ identity examines the life of legendary actor Rock Hudson, from his public "ladies' man" persona to his private life as a gay man.
A group of teenagers who have been selected to participate in a recreational white water rafting trip. All of the kids selected have AIDS or have been infected with the HIV virus. At some point during the trip, all the kids tell their stories and share their feelings about what their lives have been like since being infected with the virus and how they struggle to live normal lives with a hope of a cure in the future.