When the lights came back on after GLSEN’s screening of How to Survive a Plague last month, everyone in the room knew they’d seen a special film.
We weren’t the only ones impressed, apparently, as the movie received an Oscar nomination today for Best Documentary. How to Survive a Plague is one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen, and I couldn’t be more excited to see it receive national recognition.
The film follows two coalitions, ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group), through the HIV/AIDS crisis during the late ’80s and early ’90s. The groups used political activism and civil disobedience to help shift AIDS from a near-certain death sentence to a manageable, but still serious, disease.
Eliza Byard, our executive director, noted the connection between the atmosphere of the era and the birth of GLSEN:
“My mother attended a founding meeting for GLSEN’s New York City chapter at the time,” she said, “walking through one of the very ACT UP meetings depicted in the film to a boiler room off the back where Kevin Jennings was greeting volunteers.”
How to Survive a Plague will compete with 5 Broken Cameras, The Gatekeepers, The Invisible War, and Searching for Sugar Man for the award.
If you’re interested in other documentaries about the HIV/AIDS crisis, check out We Were Here, which focuses on San Francisco, and 30 Years From Here, which reflects on three decades of HIV/AIDS in the US.
Congratulations again to the director/producer David France and everyone else connected with the film!
Communications Assistant
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