Aids: Doctors And Nurses Tell Their Stories (2/9/2017)

Compilation/Packaged Set: Boys on Film 18: Heroes

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5060265150877

DANIEL (UK, 2015, 14 mins) Director: Dean Loxton Starring Henry Garrett (Poldark) and Éva Magyar (X-Men: First Class) Dániel is studying in London while working part-time as an escort. He is invited to a lunch by his best friend Nori. She surprises everyone by introducing her new lover Tom, with unforeseen consequences.
BUDDY (The Netherlands, 2015, 12 mins) Director: Niels Bourgonje When a young man is asked by his ex lover to support him during an HIV test, he sees an opportunity to find out if there is still a chance for reconciliation.
HALF A LIFE (Egypt, Indonesia, USA, Netherlands, 2017, 12mins) Director: Tamara Shogaolu Pairing the intimate narration of a young, Egyptian gay activist with a highly stylized animation, Half A Life brings the streets of Cairo to life through this firsthand account of the increasingly oppressive social climate of Egypt.
UNDRESS ME (Sweden, 2013, 15 mins) Directed by Victor Lindgren. When Micke meets Mikaela on a night out, he is immediately attracted to her, as he can sense that there’s something different about her. When Mikaela explains that she is trans he gets confused, aggressive and also curious. Undress Me examines and challenges our perceptions of gender.
THE COLOUR OF HIS HAIR (UK, 2017, 23 mins) Director: Sam Ashby Starring: BAFTA-nominated Josh O’Connor (God’s Own Country. Based on an unrealised film script written in 1964, when homosexuality is still illegal, The Colour of His Hair merges drama and documentary into an impressionistic meditation on queer life before and after the partial legalisation of homosexuality in 1967.
SILLY GIRL (UK, 2016, 5 mins) Director: Hope Dickson Leach Starring: Clara Baxendale (My Mad Fat Diary) and Jason Barker (A Deal with the Universe). Silly Girl is all about the first time you are noticed, that first time someone sees you for who you are and the transformative nature of that moment. From the Director of The Levelling and co-written by Game of Thrones’ Ellie Kendrick.
AN EVENING (Denmark, 2016, 10 mins) Director: Søren Green Frederik has had sex for the first time with Mathias, his friend from school. Whilst Mathias embraces what they have done and is keen to move forward, Frederik struggles to understand his own feelings and his newfound desire for Mathias.
AIDS: DOCTORS AND NURSES TELL THEIR STORIES (UK, 2017, 26 mins) Director: Alejandro Medina For the first time, doctors and nurses who cared for Britain’s first AIDS patients in the 1980s tell of the extraordinary situation they found themselves in and the rules they had to break to help patients forgotten by the state.
IT’S CONSUMING ME (Germany, 2012, 3 mins) Director: Kai Staenicke From the director of B. A young man obsesses over his ex-lover as he takes us through a collage of memories, the highs and lows of their relationship and images of his ex-boyfriend’s new life with his new lover.
MOTHER KNOWS BEST (Sweden, 2016, 13 mins) Director: Mikael Bundsen Starring Alexander Gustavsson from Girls Lost. A mother gives her teenage son some friendly advice on their way home from having met his boyfriend for the first time, but this innocent conversation leads to revelations that threaten to completely change their relationship. Winner of Iris Prize 2017.

For the first time, doctors and nurses who cared for Britain's first AIDS patients in the 1980s tell their stories. They describe a dark time when, with little treatment on offer, their role was to help these young men deal with early, painful and often undignified deaths. The extraordinary situation saw the medics bend and break the rules to provide some comfort and fun for their patients. They formed close friendships with the men they were treating, went to their funerals, mourn them to this day. But that important work took a substantial toll. This film comes when the legacy of that period is in danger of being forgotten. Black and white photographs of young gay men ill and dying on hospital wards are intercut with the honest testimony from the nurses and doctors who fought to give their patients the best death they could in the worst circumstances.