How to Survive A Plague, a documentary from journalist/filmmaker David France, tells the story of ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) - whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time.
With unfettered access to a treasure trove of never-before-seen archival footage from the 1980s and '90s, 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 heroes in the making.
Dedicated to France's lover, Colorado native Doug Gould, who died of AIDS complications in 1992, the film has been getting rave reviews and premieres in Denver on Sunday, October 21.
Drew Wilson: David, How to Survive A Plague has been getting rave reviews. How does that feel and what have been some of your favorite responses to the movie?
David Francis: I am mostly surprised but also heartened by
the way that younger audiences are responding to it. It’s such an historic
story. It’s from my gay youth but people see an inspiration in it for the whole
community, I think. The feedback I get from people is this kind of new or
renewed sense of community and that’s really rewarding.
As a journalist,
you’ve been covering HIV/AIDS and the gay community since the early days. What
was that like?
I began covering it for Gay
Community News which, at the time, was a well-respected weekly out of
Boston and really the only paper doing true gay journalism at the time. The Advocate existed but they weren’t
really doing reporting. Then New York
Native came out and became the go-to paper for anyone interested in AIDS,
the scientific community, the infected and affected communities.
HIV and AIDS was so
scary and coverage was so controversial back then. Did you encounter a lot of
resistance to your reporting?
I was reporting in the gay presses so there was no
resistance, only hunger for the information people needed to survive. By 1983
or 1984, half of the gay male population in New Yorkwas HIV positive. We were
in constant crisis mode and we really couldn’t produce enough news to satisfy
the need for information. I started covering the crisis in 1981 or 1982 and it
wasn’t until 1987 that the first pill came out. What people were looking for
was just some hope, something to hold onto that they could get through this. We
were reporting on underground drug experiments and underground pharmacies
across the country where people would go to get drugs illegally. If people died
during the drug trials their friend and lovers would bring whatever drugs they
had left to these underground pharmacists so there was a real network of stuff
that was happening - none of which produced any good results, but without it
the prognosis was certain death.
And that feeling of
having nothing to lose was a big part of the reason why ACT UP came bursting
out of the “underground.”
Yes, they came from the underground with the realization
that the underground wasn’t going to save them. They had to go above ground.
They had to go to Big Pharma and the FDA and convince them and direct them into
the proper way to fight this epidemic. And that’s the trajectory of the
characters in the film as they ultimately invade the halls of science and force
themselves into partnerships with doctors and scientists. They weren’t being
welcomed, they had to knock the doors down.
And in addition to
resistance from “above ground” establishments, ACT UP faced a lot of resistance
and condemnation even from segments of the GLBT community.
It was so controversial, what they were doing. They were
breaking laws, they were engaging in civil disobedience. They were shouting
down politicians and disturbing the peace and many GLBT organizations opposed
them officially. But their strength was that they had thousands of people
worldwide who became part of the ACT UP movement and the could show up at any
place and any time with thousands of people arguing a single point and that
showed that they had grassroots support and that gave them the strength to
pursue their points.
AIDS activism changed everything. In declaring their rights
to healthcare they first had to declare their rights to civil rights and that
gave us the acceptance we see today for gays and lesbians. When the epidemic
opened in 1981 we didn’t have any of that stuff. Nobody was talking gay
marriage. There was nobody who even saw that as a possibility back then. Out of
the ashes of this terrible plague came the modern gay rights movement and
that’s pretty phenomenal.
Do you think ‘How to
Survive A Plague’ will bring a renewed sense of urgency to the fight against
HIV/AIDS?
Man, I hope so. Have you looked at the statistics of what’s
going on out there? HIV rates of men who have sex with men are skyrocketing.
It’s crazy, 58 percent of all new infections are young gay and bisexual men and
those men only make up one percent of the population. It’s a growing epidemic
in the community and people don’t talk about it. Young men are so disconnected
from the idea of HIV that they don’t know if they are positive or negative.
As a community we need to embrace the idea of responsibility
to one another and love for one another and oneself. That message, if we can
get people to see it, is an infectious message. We need to be reminded that we
are part of a community and that we have a burden and responsibility and
opportunity and that, I think, is the message of the film.
What message do you
have for readers of MileHighGayGuy and Denver’s gay community?
Everybody needs to know the inspirational quality of our
history. The empowerment that we inherit from generation to generation, the
shoulders that we stand on, and that we come from a line of heroes. This is a
story about the heroes that made it possible for us to be alive today. This is
our story.