The Out of the Closet and Onto the Screen series at Ithaca College will show the documentary “How to Survive a Plague” — the story of how activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition — on Tuesday, Dec. 5. The 7 p.m. screening in Textor 101 is free and open to the public.
Faced with their own mortality, a group of mostly HIV-positive young men and women formed ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) and TAG (Treatment Action Group) to take on Washington and the medical establishment in the early years of the AIDS epidemic. Using never-before-seen archival footage, filmmaker David France puts the viewer smack in the middle of the controversial actions, the heated meetings, the heartbreaking failures and the exultant breakthroughs of these heroes in the making.
“How to Survive a Plague” was nominated for a 2012 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and won for best documentary at the Gotham Independent Film Awards and GLAAD Media Awards.
The screening is being held in recognition of World AIDS Day, observed each year on December 1 as an opportunity for individuals and organizations to come together to bring attention to the global AIDS epidemic.
The Out of the Closet and Onto the Screen series is sponsored by the Ithaca College Center for LGBT Education, Outreach, and Services. For more information, visit www.ithaca.edu/lgbt.