Thinking Positive

This powerful documentary explores the intersection of two crises — war and the HIV epidemic. The film follows HIV-positive Ukrainian activist Yana Panfilova as she joins “Through Positive Eyes,” a global photo-storytelling project. The film looks to the resilience of a new generation, navigating survival and community through art and activism.

A look at the rampant HIV epidemic rate in Swaziland.

Chronicles of a male homosexual drug addict in 1980's in voice-over with long take scenes from Rome, television snippets of news of Gulf War and commercials.

For the first time, doctors and nurses who cared for Britain's first AIDS patients in the 1980s tell of the extraordinary situation they found themselves in and the rules they had to break to help patients forgotten by the state.

Controversial documentary about gay men purposely contracting the AIDS virus.

Using diary excerpts, photographs and memories from companions, the film paints the portrait of the artist Jürgen Baldiga who sensitively and authentically captured the West Berlin queer scene of the 1980s and early 1990s with his camera.

Through a series of interviews with leading British AIDS activists and cultural theorists, this documentary investigates the way in which AIDS has been used by the media and by the government to increase state harassment of gay men and lesbians, black people and women. Framing the problem in terms of a left politic, the tape reveals how both homophobia and puritanism have been responsible for the slow government response to AIDS.

A recording of a play about the intangible impacts AIDS has on a community. This is a moving, beautifully photographed combination of theater and documentary that captures the incredible excitement of live theater and intensifies the power of the play's message.

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In Uganda, AIDS-infected mothers have begun writing what they call Memory Books for their children. Aware of the illness, it is a way for the family to come to terms with the inevitable death that it faces. Hopelessness and desperation are confronted through the collaborative effort of remembering and recording, a process that inspires unexpected strength and even solace in the face of death.

In 1992, an independent South African puppetry group, the African Research and Educational Puppetry Program, were invited by OXFAM (Canada) to bring their highly successful educational program 'Puppets Against Aids' to tour rural and regional Canada for twelve weeks. This is the one-hour documentary that was produced from their Canadian Tour.

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The business of HIV is uncovered through the lens of a long-term survivor, who puts his life on the line in search of a cure.

German iconoclast filmmaker and gay-rights activist Rosa vonPraunheim examines his own life and career in the documentary Phooey Rosa! With a quickly paced editing style, the film is a mix of personal banter, candid interviews, and clips from his filmography. It also includes footage from his early film Bed Sausage to his later work Neurosia. At the age of 60, vonPraunheim reveals intimate details about his past relationships and his childhood growing up after WWII. He also implicates some of his friends and inspirations, including Luzi Kryn and Rainer Kranach.

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The film provides information about the course and symptoms of AIDS, the effect of AIDS viruses on the immune system, the routes of infection, the main risks of infection and the protective measures against them.

Extremely rare Cuban documentary reveals rockers that find liberty by injecting themselves with the HIV virus, at a time when this was almost synonymous with a death sentence.

Explores the lives of Sara, Gigi and Giovanna, three Latino transvestites who for years have lived on the streets of Manhattan supporting their drug addictions through prostitution. They made their temporary home inside broken garbage trucks that the Sanitation Department keeps next to the salt deposits used in the winter to melt the snow. The three friends share the place known as "The Salt Mines".

Ricardo was once Sara, a homeless HIV positive transvestite, living in the underbelly of Manhattan. Today he is a churchgoing, married man, "saved" by a Dallas ministry. He has renounced his homosexuality, but is his conversion complete? Susana Aiken and Carlos Aparicio offer an intimate look at Ricardo's transformation.

A moving personal documentary about Danny, a friend of Kybartas who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1986. This powerful work explores the reason for Danny’s return home and his attempts to reconcile his relationship with his family members who had difficulty facing his homosexuality and his imminent death.