Wednesday 7 May
Death in the Family (1987, dir. Peter Wells and Stewart Main, 48 min, PG) screens alongside Pansy (2001, dir. Peter Wells, 52 min, Exempt)
Mediatheatre 7 pm
A Death in the Family is a human drama about sexuality, death and the victory of love. "It is July 1985. Andrew Boyd, a New Zealander visiting Sydney for treatment, is told he has five days to live. He has AIDS. He is the fourth person diagnosed in New Zealand." Andrew's friends gather around to look after him. His family pay a brief visit leaving a cheque to help his friends with the expenses.
Pansy adopts a personal voice and poetic style of film making. Writer/director Peter Wells looks at his life through pansy-tinted glasses as he makes the journey back to his childhood in this autobiographical documentary. Charting the voyage of a man who later became an outspoken New Zealand gay artist, it looks back at the complications of his past and a period of time when it was compulsory to be straight. He also recalls the loss of his brother Russell to HIV AIDS in 1989.
Thursday 8, Friday 9 and Saturday 10 May
United in Anger: A History of ACTUP (US, 100 min, Exempt, directed by Jim Hubbard)
Mediatheatre 7 pm also 4.30 pm Saturday
ACT UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) is an international direct action advocacy group working to bring about legislation, medical research, treatment and policies that will ultimately bring an end to HIV AIDS.
United in Anger is a documentary that puts the audience, through rare archival footage, on the ground with the activists to explore ACT UP from a grassroots perspective - how a small group of men and women of all races and classes, came together in New York City in 1987 to change the world and save each other's lives.
Tickets $8 / $6