In connection with the Fifth Annual New York AIDS Film Festival, excerpted screenings of three documentaries were presented free to the public at NYU's King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center on December 1, 2007. The first such screening was of director Michael Eldridge's film, GMHC at 25, a short documentary that takes the viewer through the harrowing first years of the AIDS/HIV crisis. The film takes the viewer from the beginning of GMHC to the agency's present -- and how we need to keep fighting AIDS/HIV today. Mr. Eldridge's story is told exclusively through first-person interviews of the men and women who have fought this pandemic for the last 25 years. Their voices weave both a hopeful and haunting look at this crisis.
The second documentary to be presented was an excerpt of Enrique Menendez's film, AboutFace. This first-person film introduces the filmmaker in his professional theatrical roles as a GI from the Vietnam War, sailor from WWII, and a student during the French revolution. We learn how he became infected. Through images of one of Enrique’s HIV pharmaceutical ads, the March on Washington, and the AIDS quilt, we learn how these battles deeply affect him. Upon HIV infection, we see how the virus has affected his body. Next, Enrique reminisces about his 40th and 30th birthday parties -- and how his medications take their toll. His desire to control is manifested in addiction.
The final documentary to be excerpted was Wolfgang Busch's documentary, How Do I Look, a decade-long community-based empowerment project about the Harlem "Ball" community. Following the screenings was a Q&A session.
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