How to Survive a Plague

Sep 21, 2012

1h 49m

★ 6.8

Overview

A story of two coalitions – ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) – whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time.

Genres

Documentary

History

Production Companies

Public Square Films

Ninety Thousand Words

Ted Snowdon Foundation

Impact Partners

Little Punk

Ford Foundation

Doc Society

How to Survive a Plague Trailers

Cast

Self

Peter Staley

Self

Larry Kramer

Self

Iris Long

Self

Bob Rafsky

Self

Mark Harrington

Self

Anthony Fauci

In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how these cultural rebels—armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent—stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world’s most dangerous group, N.W.A. And as they spoke the truth that no one had before and exposed life in the hood, their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today.

4.0

I Am My Own Woman

Oct 30, 1992

The life story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, who survived the Nazi reign as a trans woman and helped start the German gay liberation movement. Documentary with some dramatized scenes. Two actors play the young and middle aged Charlotte and she plays herself in the later years.

6.5

Untold: Caitlyn Jenner

Aug 24, 2021

Caitlyn Jenner's unlikely path to Olympic glory was inspirational. But her more challenging road to embracing her true self proved even more meaningful.

7.2

Milk

Nov 5, 2008

The true story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man ever elected to public office. In San Francisco in the late 1970s, Harvey Milk becomes an activist for gay rights and inspires others to join him in his fight for equal rights that should be available to all Americans.

0.0

Odd Girls

Jul 27, 2019

Set in 1987, Odd Girls is the story of a young separatist lesbian who finds herself in the unexpected position of caring for a gay man dying of AIDS. Debbie finds herself battling ignorance, discrimination and her own political and personal views, when faced with the impossible dilemma of being David’s last remaining ally. Inspired by countless true stories, Odd Girls is a short period drama with the aim of shedding a light on the selflessness and bravery of the real women who sacrificed and supported gay men with AIDS all over the world during the HIV crisis.

7.8

Disclosure

Jun 19, 2020

An investigation of how Hollywood's fabled stories have deeply influenced how Americans feel about transgender people, and how transgender people have been taught to feel about themselves.

6.0

The Salt Mines

Oct 1, 1990

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".

6.1

The Canterbury Tales

Sep 2, 1972

Glimpses of Chaucer penning his famous work are sprinkled through this re-enactment of several of his stories.

0.0

John Holmes: The Man, the Myth, the Legend

Jun 22, 2004

A fine documentary that details the sordid life of 1970s pornographic actor John Holmes, from the stories of his fellow actors, his ex-wives, and directors. Clips of his work are shown and insight on what made the man tick are given. Despite all his flaws, you can't help but admire him for what he was.

10.0

Partners

May 10, 2018

18 partners discuss the choices they’ve made in deciding on their mates. At its heart, this unscripted documentary film is about acceptance; a gentle message that we shouldn’t judge the choices of others, even if they seem a little different.

7.0

Life of Crime 2

Dec 15, 1998

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.

7.8

Dance of the Forty One

Nov 19, 2020

Mexico City, November 1901. The police raid a private home where a secret party is being held. Among those attending is the son-in-law of President Porfirio Díaz.

0.0

Safe Space

Jun 10, 2024

This documentary discusses how LGBTIQA+ people experience the streets and nightlife of Istanbul in terms of a safe space through the unique, yet common experiences of queers from different backgrounds, and focuses especially on nightlife and the issue of safe space there, which is a very critical area for queers to exist as they are.

6.6

Wilde

Sep 1, 1997

Oscar Wilde is a married playwright who has occasionally indulged his weakness for male suitors. After much toil, Wilde debuts 'The Importance of Being Earnest' in London, and a chat at the theatre with Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas leads to a full-fledged romance. However, this affair leads to a legal dispute with Lord Alfred's oppressive father, the Marquess of Queensberry, and, given the local anti-gay laws, Wilde is jailed. Wilde's vast intellect helps him survive until he regains his freedom.

6.9

Mona Lisa Smile

Dec 19, 2003

Katherine Watson is a recent UCLA graduate hired to teach art history at the prestigious all-female Wellesley College, in 1953. Determined to confront the outdated mores of society and the institution that embraces them, Katherine inspires her traditional students, including Betty and Joan, to challenge the lives they are expected to lead.

1.0

The Homosexuals

Mar 7, 1967

On March 7, 1967, 40 million Americans tuned in to watch CBS Reports: The Homosexuals, network television’s first documentary on homosexuality. Near the top of the program, host and interviewer Mike Wallace calls homosexuals “the most despised minority in the United States.” The hour that follows is filled with salacious location footage, sermonizing therapists, and shadowed interviews with distraught homosexuals.

1.0

My New Friends

Jan 1, 1995

Tsai interrupted his pre-production for The River to make this pioneering documentary for Taiwan's nascent AIDS-awareness campaign. Ignoring instructions to 'play down the gay angle', he centres the film on his own very candid conversations with two HIV+ young men. Sadly the identities of the interviewees have to be concealed, and so the freewheeling camerawork focuses most often on Tsai himself; but the sense of rapport between the director and his 'new friends' is palpable and very moving, even to Western viewers already only too familiar with these issues.

4.8

Kelet

Jan 29, 2020

Kelet is a twentysomething black trans woman, whose greatest dream is to be on the cover of Vogue magazine. For the Finnish-born and Manchester-raised Kelet, such models as Naomi Campbell and Iman served as role models giving her strength – and during the darkest times, kept her alive. After coming out, then 19-year-old Kelet was cut off from her family and she moved back to Finland on her own.

5.1

A Season in Hell

Sep 10, 1971

The tumultuous life of Arthur Rimbaud, the cursed poet, who completed his masterwork at the age of twenty, became an arms dealer and died at thirty-seven; and his passionate relationship with Paul Verlaine, full of wanderings, storms and falling out.

How to Survive a Plague

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

How to Survive a Plague Trailers