This article first appeared in The Positive Side, a publication of CATIE.

Une version française est disponible ici.  

“If you know your history, then you would know where you coming from.”

 —Bob Marley, Buffalo Soldier

Though we come from diverse backgrounds and life experiences, people living with HIV all share a common history: the history of the AIDS epidemic. But some 30 years into this epidemic, many of us scarcely know the stories that serve to bind us together as a community. Like the stories of most stigmatized identities, our shared history is difficult, painful and challenging, but it also speaks to the strength and resilience of people with HIV.

Movies offer us one way to connect to those stories and a window into the historical trajectory of AIDS. So, as the weather grows colder, why not gather together your friends with HIV and the people who love and support you around the modern campfire—the TV screen? Grab a warm blanket and a big bowl of popcorn and spend an evening learning the stories that unify us and make us proud to be who we are. A monthly movie night exploring the history of HIV could make for a cozy, inspiring, even therapeutic way to while away the cold winter.

THE BEGINNING IS AS GOOD a place as any to start your viewing. Two entertaining and informative films that deal with the origins and early history of AIDS are the docudrama And the Band Played On, based on the 1987 bestselling book of the same name, by American journalist Randy Shilts, and Zero Patience, an AIDS musical by maverick Canadian filmmaker John Greyson. And the Band Played On presents a scathing critique of government and medical responses to the emergence of AIDS. It sets out the facts, while Zero Patience assumes that you know these facts and weaves a campy Canuck yarn that turns these “facts” on their head.

And the Band Played On

And the Band Played On was first shown at the Montreal World Film Festival in 1993, then broadcast on HBO and later released in movie theatres. It takes us back to the early 1980s, as gay men in major American cities are beginning to die of an unknown illness. Doctors, politicians and gay leaders grapple, with varying degrees of competence, with the disease that would eventually become known as AIDS. Of particular interest is the film’s account of the ugly competition between French and American research labs to claim the dubious distinction of discovering the virus that causes AIDS—a competition that unfolds as the death toll mounts. The film also documents the attempts by public health officials to close gay bathhouses in San Francisco, in order to contain the spread of HIV, and the subsequent resistance from gay community leaders who see this as an attempt to control their lives. And the Band Played On introduces us to French Canadian flight attendant Gaetan Dugas, whose sexual exploits became a sort of gay urban legend in the late 1980s. As a result of Shilts’ investigative journalism into the origins of AIDS, Dugas became known as “Patient Zero,” the man who allegedly introduced AIDS to North America. (It is now known that this wasn’t the case.)

In addition to its sharp rebuke of politicians and AIDS researchers, this early Emmy Award–winning film brought Hollywood star power (including Matthew Modine, Lily Tomlin, Alan Alda and Richard Gere) to bear on what was still a relatively taboo subject. Recall that then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan did not publicly say the word AIDS until 1987, the year Shilts’ book was published—a full six years after people first became aware of the disease in the U.S. and after 21,000 Americans had already died of AIDS.

Zero Patience

CANADIAN FILMMAKER JOHN GREYSON’s surreal musical Zero Patience premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1993—the same year that And the Band Played On premiered in Montreal—and went on to receive much recognition in Canadian cinema and queer theory circles. Its plot is delightfully convoluted, involving time travel, a buoyant soundtrack by Glenn Schellenberg and a cameo role as Miss HIV for Michael Callen, an early American AIDS activist who championed the rights of people with HIV. The film’s title alludes to “Patient Zero” Gaetan Dugas, whose reputation, tarnished in And the Band Played On, is rehabilitated by Greyson, who portrays his engagement in early AIDS research as helping to establish AIDS as a sexually transmitted disease preventable through safer sex. The title also alludes to the urgency of AIDS activism. When Zero Patience came out, Greyson and others involved in the film said: “We wanted to explode the opportunistic myth of Patient Zero…[and] celebrate the courage and sass of an international AIDS activist movement that has tirelessly fought for the rights of people living with AIDS.”

Philadelphia

JONATHAN DEMME’S Philadelphia is a must-see film: It was the first mainstream Hollywood movie about AIDS to reach a broad audience. Philadelphia chronicles the final days of gay lawyer Andrew Beckett (played by Tom Hanks, who won an Academy Award for his performance), who is unjustly fired from his law firm when his health begins to fail as a result of AIDS, and the dawning sympathy and politicization of his attorney Joe Miller (played by Denzel Washington), whom he hires to defend him against this unlawful dismissal. Though Beckett wins his case and receives loving support from his partner, family and friends, there is no happy ending to Philadelphia, conceived of and brought to the screen in the early 1990s, when AIDS still conveyed a death sentence. Attending this film when it was first released, I recall that sobs could be heard throughout the darkened theatre as this film drew to a close—I was certainly trying hard to compose myself as the lights went up.

Three Needles

IN ADDITION TO ITS NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2005, Nova Scotia resident Thom Fitzgerald’s film Three Needles was shown at the 2006 International AIDS Society Conference in Toronto. Starring Stockard Channing, Olympia Dukakis, Sandra Oh, Lucy Liu and Chloë Sevigny, this ambitious film tells three stories of HIV transmission worldwide. In rural China, the black-market trade in blood results in the spread of HIV throughout a small village. In South Africa, the myth that sex with a virgin can cure AIDS has dire consequences in an orphanage. And in Montreal, a second-rate porn star searches for a way to pass his mandatory HIV test despite the fact that he is HIV positive. Though this film sometimes sacrifices the facts about HIV for the sake of a more coherent plot, it is important in its efforts to engage with HIV issues beyond North America.

Viewing these four films—available at your local video store or on Netflix or Amazon—may inspire you to check out other movies about HIV. Last year, two major movies about AIDS, United in Anger, a history of the AIDS activist group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), and Vito, about activist/writer Vito Russo, screened in theatres. And in Montreal, there’s the HIV/AIDS film festival VIHsion. Online you can check out some of the more than 100 fascinating interviews with members of ACT UP New York that make up the ACT UP Oral History Project.

Know your history: It will make you proud.

Darien Taylor is CATIE’s former Director of Program Delivery. She co-founded Voices of Positive Women and is the recipient of a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, awarded to Canadians who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to HIV/AIDS work. Darien has been living with HIV for over 20 years.

The sister article “Le sida dans le cinéma” in Vision Positive explores HIV in French cinema. 

*****

AIDS Goes to the Movies

Here is a short list of the features and documentaries made in North America since the start of the epidemic: 

AIDS: No Sad Songs (1985) – First major Canadian doc made about what was at the time a taboo topic. Explores the social and emotional effects of AIDS on people living with HIV and their loved ones.

Parting Glances (1986) – Indie film about a gay couple in New York City. One of the first American feature films to portray AIDS.

Doctors, Liars, and Women: AIDS Activists Say No to Cosmo (1988) – Award-winning short that documents AIDS activists taking over the editorial offices of Cosmopolitan magazine after it ran an article claiming that a straight woman could safely have unprotected sex with an HIV-positive man.

The Ryan White Story (1989) – Made-for-TV movie based on the true story of Indiana teenager Ryan White. In 1984, White became infected with HIV from contaminated blood treatment for his hemophilia and fought for his right to attend school after being expelled because of his infection.

Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989) – Academy Award–winning doc about the lives and deaths of people commemorated in the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

And the Band Played On (1993) – Docudrama on the early history of AIDS, based on the bestselling book by Randy Shilts.

Zero Patience (1993) – John Greyson’s AIDS musical about how the media, government and scientists responded to AIDS in the ’80s.

Philadelphia (1993) – First mainstream Hollywood movie about AIDS. A successful young gay lawyer living with HIV takes his employer to court for wrongful dismissal.

Angels in America (2003) – A six-hour HBO miniseries adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize–winning play about the intertwined lives of people affected by the growing AIDS epidemic. Set in New York City during the Reagan administration.

Three Needles (2005) – Three stories about the AIDS epidemics in South Africa, China and Canada, from Halifax-based writer and director Thom Fitzgerald.

We Were Here (2011) – Doc in which four gay men and one straight female nurse share stories about how they were impacted by the epidemic in San Francisco.

Positive Women: Exposing Injustice (2012) – Four HIV-positive women (including Claudia Medina profiled here) talk about the impact of Canadian laws that criminalize HIV non-disclosure.

United in Anger: A History of ACT UP (2012) – Doc about the direct actions of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) to combat corporate greed, social indifference and government neglect.

How to Survive a Plague (2012) – Oscar-nominated doc about the activism of ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) and TAG (the Treatment Action Group) in the U.S. during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.

The Normal Heart (pre-production) – The book and play written by activist Larry Kramer about his efforts to raise awareness about AIDS in the ’80s, to be turned into a feature film.  

Over the past couple of weeks, I've developed a rapport with Billy Newton-Davis following being introduced by Black Cap’s Executive Director, Shannon Ryan. I have been booking entertainment for my new monthly dance party, POZ-TO (which benefits local AIDS organizations) and I am happy to announce that Mr. Davis has agreed to be our special guest on the March 3rd event, along with Miss High Performance 2011-12, Lady G.

It’s the Saturday afternoon after the huge snow storm here in Toronto. I was supposed to meet up with Billy today, but we decided that it would be easier to do this interview over the phone. He called me around 1 PM to say that he had just got in the door and was in need of some lunch and that he would call me back in about 30 or 40 minutes. I thought to myself....this will work perfectly because I had just sat down and started watching a classic black and white film called “Pinky”. “Pinky” was a term used to describe a light-skinned black person who could pass for white. In 1949, Twentieth-Century Fox tackled this very controversial subject.

I had not actually seen this one, but had read about it. My only real reference to the film was a story that Lena Horne shared on her “The Lady & Her Music” album. She explained that she was up for the role and that Max Factor had even created a special make up for her called “Light Egyptian”. Well, to her disappointment she didn’t get the role. “Instead they rubbed my Light Egyptian all over some pretty little white gal named Jeanne Crain” she joked in her monologue before breaking into “I’’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter”.

It was funny that I was concerned about finishing this movie, because so was Billy. When he called me back I happened to mention that I was enjoying “Pinky”. He explained that he had seen the movie four times before but had not made it to the courtroom. So, he didn’t care for the film before today and had often confused it with “Imitation Of Life”, another one of my favourites. Now...you are probably wondering why I am telling you all about us watching the same film on TV. It actually played a big part in starting our conversation.

Talking about the film led to talking about being African-American in Toronto. I was surprised to find that his experience here was very similar to mine. The first thing that you notice when you get here is that the Black Community is almost completely Caribbean. It is always interesting to me how Black People from other parts of the world interact with Black People from the U.S. In my opinion, it sometimes feels like we are blamed for our history in America. Billy pointed out that because of religious beliefs, we as Gay Black Men are really considered taboo to the Caribbean and African cultures.

Then we started talking about the struggles of being a light skinned Black Man and our childhoods. It probably sounds strange to some, but there is a prejudice that excists between blacks over skin shades and tones.

He also told me about his relationship with his mother. Describing her as having the beauty of Lena Horne and the sophistication of Eartha Kitt, he shared how he used to act as her personal stylist as a child. They were very close, he said, until he came out to her in 1973. He had grown up in almost every kind of church. His mother was very religious and did not accept him for being who he was. He explained “I fought every second of my life for freedom.” He believes that it is his destiny to still be here.

As the conversation went on I discovered that we had even more in common. Like myself, his grandmother was the one in his family who stood up for him and embraced him, no matter what his sexual orientation was. And with the support of his grandmother and aunt he was armed to take on the world. “They were my rock” Billy told me. Both of us too were the ones who as kids were always ready to put on a show for a room full of adults.

“My happiness was never gonna be in Cleveland. I was Black and gay. I was always fabulous and I loved entertaining people.” he said. So, he left for New York City to pursue his dreams.

When I asked what brought him to Toronto he explained that he came to town with the Broadway Show, “Eubie” in 1980. It was an eight- week run of a musical about ragtime piano player Eubie Blake that featured Terry Burrell, Winston Dewitt Hemsley and The Hines Brothers (Gregory & Maurice).

Billy told me “The show was ending and the next stop was San Francisco. There was a delay and then I got a call from my manager saying that the show was continuing without me. I was part of the ensemble, but I wasn’t a great dancer. I always wanted to sing and a friend here in Toronto convinced me to stay. I ended up doing a few more musicals until I eventually got a deal with Sony in 1984. I won my first three Junos for my work on my first and second albums and then in 2008 I won a Juno for a single with Deadmau5. I remember feeling really good because I won over all these young artists on the dance scene. And then some group called Chromeo wrote some blog complaining that I had no business winning over them at the awards that year. Sayin’ something about that they had headlined at Madison Square Garden and was on top of the charts. I wrote such a scathing rebuttal that I think they took notice. I wrote that I too had headlined at Madison Square Garden, performed in Paris and performed with disco diva Gloria Gaynor.”

When I went looking for the blog by Chromeo, I found that it had been taken down. I believe that they felt Billy didn’t deserve to win the Juno because he was too old and not a natural born Canadian. But I’m sure after he wrote his rebuttal they were advised that speaking against a legendary artist who not only had a solo career, won a Juno for his duet with Celine Dion and also was a member of The Nylons was not a good move if they wanted to continue in the industry. One thing that I do love about the music entertainment industry here in Canada is that they truly honor and respect their artists here.

And I have to say I agree with him that he was destined to be here doing the work that he is doing. Just living his life as an Out Black Gay Man who is HIV+ is important work.

“HIV does not rule my life. It’s an aspect of my life, but there is so much more to me” he said.

When I approached him about being a special guest for our event and mentioned that this particular month Black Cap was coming on as a beneficiary he immediately said yes.

“Although ACT has helped me back in the early 90’s back when my partner was a parishioner at MCC, Black Cap has always held a special place in my heart.  I remember my first meeting with Juanita Hall. I just felt like I needed to do something for the Black Community. Being that the people who were clients at Black Cap were from Caribbean and African backgrounds where religion kept them in the closet, I felt that they needed an out positive person to step forward to set an example. Black Cap needed a person like me. People tend to listen to me” Billy explained.

Billy shared with me that he had recently watched the documentary about me and my alter-ego, Jade Elektra on YouTube called “Shades of Jade”.  He expressed that he felt like we were kindred spirits. I felt honored. He asked if I knew Chris Edwards. I told him that she has been a great friend to me and was the first to book me when I arrived in Toronto. “I love that girl! You know, she is the reason that queens are allowed in The Eagle on Church Street. We had booked her as a host for an event there and they refused to let her in. We all stood by her and fought for her to get in.” Wow...so much history. 

We bonded over the Pearl Box Revue. I told him about how Dorian Corey (a founding member of the Pearl Box Revue and personality in "Paris Is Burning") was the one who talked me into performing again after I moved to New York City. He couldn’t believe that I actually knew her. He remembered that his parents used to sneak him into their shows when they came to Cleveland. “I was afraid of these big women. As a small child, they were larger than life and seemed dangerous.”

And as we spoke of divas that shaped our lives, I shared my experience of performing with Beyonce in 2003. “I imagine she is the only diva!” he said. But I explained that she wasn’t when I met her. She was extremely humble and down to earth. I still have the autographed doll she gave me before she, Harmonica Sunbeam and myself took the stage at The Roxy. She was so down to earth backstage, but when she hit the stage she became the diva that we know from her performances. She totally left it on the stage. Billy seemed impressed from my description. And in an odd way it brought me to the idea that Beyonce sort of represents a modern day "Pinky". "When I watch her I see Tina Turner. I see Diana Ross and even Dorothy Dandridge." he said. We both agreed she evokes all of the divas from the past with her passionate stage presence.

So, I am looking forward to his performance on March 3rd. I chose Lady G. to open for him because she is a graduate from one of the many programs at Black Cap. In many aspects, she is a shining example of what Black Cap is about - creating a safe and open community where today’s LGBT Black Community in Toronto can grow and learn from each other.

Studio 180 Theatre Celebrates 10 Years!

One Night Only Staged Reading of

THE LARAMIE PROJECT

Monday February 25, 2013 at 7:00 PM

Panasonic Theatre, 651 Yonge Street, Toronto

Ten years ago, Studio 180 burst onto the Toronto theatre scene with the Canadian premiere of THE LARAMIE PROJECT, a groundbreaking play in the form of a theatrical docudrama that perfectly defined the kind of theatre the founders of Studio 180 wanted to create: socially relevant, thought-provoking, and committed to community engagement. That was the very beginning of the company that is now considered one of the city’s most vibrant and dynamic.

On Monday February 25, 2013, over 50 artists from Studio 180 productions, past and present, will gather to celebrate Studio 180’s 10th birthday by performing a staged reading of THE LARAMIE PROJECT for one night only at the Panasonic Theatre, the same venue where on the other nights of the week Studio 180 will be performing a revival of its acclaimed and popular production of CLYBOURNE PARK (playing February 12 to March 2).

About THE LARAMIE PROJECT

In an internationally reported event, openly gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was kidnapped, beaten and left to die, tied to a fence on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998. Five weeks later, Moisés Kaufman and fellow members of the Tectonic Theater Project went to Laramie, and over the course of the next year conducted more than 200 interviews with people of the town. From these interviews they wrote THE LARAMIE PROJECT, a chronicle of the life of the town of Laramie in the year after the murder.

The play premiered in New York in 2000, playing to rave reviews and impassioned audiences. Time Magazine called it “one of the ten best plays of the year” and it has since become one of the most performed plays in North America.  Studio 180 was honoured to present its Canadian professional premiere in 2003, and is now thrilled to be performing the show again 10 years later.

2003 Production

THE LARAMIE PROJECT

BY MOISÉS KAUFMAN  & MEMBERS OF THE TECTONIC THEATER PROJECT

Directed by Joel Greenberg & Mark McGrinder

FEATURING:  Dorothy Atabong • Daniel Bennett • Richard Binsley • Mark Crawford • Paul Dunn • Audrey Dwyer • Paul Essiembre • Neil Foster • David Fox • Kesta Graham • Jessica Greenberg • Deborah Grover • Martin Happer • Sarite Harris • Daren A. Herbert • Marvin Hinz • Shari Hollett • Ryan Hollyman • Jeff Irving • Sam Kalilieh • Ryan Kelly • Andrew Kushnir • Alison Lawrence • Anthony Lemke • Jeff Lillico • George Masswohl • Mark McGrinder • Tracy Michailidis • Jason Mitchell • Karim Morgan • Sarah Orenstein • Kimwun Perehinec • Alex Poch-Goldin • Kimberly Purtell • Maria Ricossa • Dylan Roberts • Paige Robson-Cramer • Jordy Rolfe • Michael Rubenfeld • Amy Rutherford • Jonathan Seinen • André Sills • David Storch • Michael Therriault • Jennifer Villaverde • Nigel Shawn Williams • Jonathan Wilson

What Toronto critics had to say about Studio 180’s productions of THE LARAMIE PROJECT

“A wonderful tapestry of compassion and hate woven together with invisible threads of homophobia and humanity… An excellent, moving piece of theatre.”

NNNN NOW MAGAZINE

“This play never judges anybody… [Its] straightforwardness, the inevitable snatches of comedy that arise from the interviews and the great swathes of sorrow also apparent in Laramie make the project utterly compelling.”

★★★★ GLOBE AND MAIL

“The play grips, and it won’t let you go”  NATIONAL POST

One Night Only! - Monday February 25, 2013 at 7:00 PM. Â Party to follow!

Panasonic Theatre, 651 Yonge St., Toronto

All tickets $25 416-872-1212 or 1-800-461-333 or here 

Want to see who the other nine are? Go here