Full Frame Winter Series screening: "How to Survive a Plague"

The final film in the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival's annual Winter Series: HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE / Directed by David France2012 / US / 109 minutesIn the early 1980s when the number of AIDS cases in America began to soar, many organizations with the resources to help turned a blind eye to the epidemic. Enter ACT UP, a group of activists who felt they'd been backed into a corner by society's complacent attitudes. Many of ACT UP's members were HIV-positive and saw this unifying political action as their only hope of survival. In a two-pronged attack strategy, the group sought to raise awareness through high-profile protests, while simultaneously infiltrating the scientific community to help steer research toward a manageable cure. This film recounts their epic journey almost entirely through the use of archival footage, providing a firsthand account of the heated meetings and desperate emotions that would eventually fracture the group but at the time were instrumental in finding a cure. HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE is a gripping historical account of the movement culled from hundreds of hours of existing footage. The result is a beautiful testament to those who never gave up the fight for change. Full Frame's Winter Series takes place in Fletcher Hall inside the Carolina Theatre in downtown Durham. All screenings are FREE and open to the public. No ticket required.