Tartaglia, Jerry

1995

Jerry Tartaglia's 17 minute silent film documents the filmmaker's friend, David Kline, as he is dying from an infection associated with HIV.

Wam, Svend

1995

Sebastian is the story of a tightly-knit group of five boys and girls and the problems and pleasures they experience as they approach adulthood. The “gang” enjoys all its free time together, and its members would like their youth to last forever. They are like most teenagers, putting up with their parents’ disapproval, hanging out at their favorite places. Their emotions swing between joy and anxiety; they have a great time one minute, and are bored to tears the next. Soon they start becoming seriously aware of their sexuality, at an age when falling in love is a matter of life and death, and often they find they’re love is not returned. For Sebastian, love is more difficult than it is for his friends. He is attracted to his best friend Ulf, and a multitude of questions arise. Can he be gay? What will his parents think? How will his friends react? And, most of all, what should he say to Ulf?

Jortner, Michael

1995

Based on Terrence McNally's screenplay, two people, one afraid, one confident, decide whether they will love each other or not.

Neubauer, Barbel

1995

Baus, Janet

1995

Both the government and the medical establishment do not consider woman-to-woman transmission of HIV to be important, but then they don't really care whether we live or die. So why do lesbians let themselves be lulled into believing they are not at risk? Risk: Lesbians and AIDS breaks through the misconceptions and gives us the facts we need to know about AIDS.

Brown, Nancy

1995

The family in Related By Birth is about as alternative as you get: a divorced lesbian couple and the gay male father, all three of whom share custody of their son.

Winkler, Charles

1995

The way Troy (boyishly hunky Paul Mercurio) remembers it, the day he found out that he was HIV-positive was the worst day of his life. He's just 29 years old and already he's attended 23 funerals of friends who've died from AIDS. Following yet another such event, Troy gathers with his friends Darcy (Debi Mazar), Duke (RuPaul) and Duke's lover, Harold (John “Lypsinka” Epperson), all members of the same HIV support group. They've become frustrated with a newly instituted lottery held every six months to give a very few lucky people the chance to receive D-64, a new miracle AIDS drug. The only alternative to the lottery is to pay the drug manufacturer's exorbitant price, a price which has allowed the company to clear over $250 million in profit. Frustration leads to inspiration as Darcy and Duke come up with an idea: if they can't afford to buy D-64, why not steal it? Troy reluctantly joins them in their scheme as they stake out a small drug store. They get away with the heist, taking the store's entire supply of D-64, and empowered by their success, they rob another drug store, then another, until they have more D-64 than they could ever use themselves. They decide to subvert the lottery and anonymously distribute their extra stock to the community. Now with a higher mission, they become even more aggressive, turning into both local news celebrities as well as fodder for community controversy. Eventually, they bungle a big heist, narrowly escaping the police. After that, they agree to give it all up, but only after one last big score: the drug company's warehouse.

Gaffney, Stuart

1995

Re Generation explores two men's feelings about contracting HIV. Part One is the fictional story of a youth who rejects the label for a new generation of young gay men getting AIDS; the voice-over narration is accompanied by abstract visuals and extreme body close-ups. Part Two is an interview with Frank Sears, who recalls the 1981 incident when he believes he contracted HIV; his story contrasts sharply with Part One.

Struck, Andreas

1995

A fairy tale in which two guy’s lives take on new meaning after they encounter the Madonna.

Langway, Douglass

1995

One of the best things about American film is its B-movie tradition. Some of the most enjoyable action and horror films this country has produced have been no-budget schlocky extravaganzas made by unknown directors and starring unknown actors. That’s the tradition Raising Heroes comes out of. It’s the first gay action film! Josh and Paul are a successful gay couple in the midst of the most important event in their lives — adopting a child. They’re about to receive approval from the social worker when Josh witnesses a Mob hit and becomes the next target. With the final court hearing on the adoption only three days away, it’s a race for time as Josh and Paul fight to keep their dreams of an alternative family alive while being stalked by professional killers who want them dead. Come root for our adorable, sensitive, politically correct couple — one’s kinda scrawny and the other is big and beautiful — as they blast away at vicious mobsters in parking garages, Italian restaurants, and even their own apartment, and then have sex in a gigantic jacuzzi shaped like a champagne glass. There’s lots of violence and lots of blood, and while it may not be as professional as Die Hard, hey —that’s why we love it.