SF Chron: 'We Were Here' &
People Living with HIV
Absolutely everyone I run into who has seen the new AIDS documentary "We Were Here"at the Castro theater has praised the film sky-high. They say the film captures all of the mixed up emotions and politics and people and times of the dark AIDS years here, and also honors our deceased loved ones and the survivors still here. It is on my list of films to see.
Unlike the Bay Guardian which insulted people with AIDS in using "AIDS victims" in their coverage of the film's opening last week, the SF Chronicle's reportage on the first night at the Castro showed some respect toward folks with HIV and AIDS. From Leah Garhik's column on Tuesday in the Datebook section, emphasis mine:
Friday night's benefit showing of the documentary "We Were Here," about coping with AIDS in San Francisco, was a tear-your-heart-out event, especially because it was at the Castro Theatre, the geographic epicenter of the epidemic. A standing ovation from a packed audience ... was proof of full approval for the work of producer-director David Weissman and editor and co-director Bill Weber. In a theater full of AIDS veterans, people living with HIV and people who had taken care of them, eyewitnesses and life witnesses, agreement that the filmmakers had gotten it right seemed unanimous. ...
It says something about a small part of AIDS-related reporting and homo history in San Francisco in 2011 that the Hearst-owned daily avoided an offensive label, while the progressive Guardian not only used "AIDS victim," they had trouble owning up to their insult.
It is also interesting that Nikolai claims that he visited 50 countries since he started his "activism". That's at least 10 (!) countries a year only if they are visited just once.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of out of country traveling for "the country's LGBT leader".