We Were Here
South West Premiere
Sat | 5 Nov | 21.05 | Screen 2 | Book Tickets
Sun | 6 Nov | 12.20 | Screen 4 | Book Tickets
Dir. David Weissman | USA 2010 | E | 90min
An astonishingly personal and emotional account of the historic period in US history when the AIDS epidemic was first discovered. The film focuses on five different citizens who lived in San Francisco prior to the revelation of the disease and who watched untold numbers of friends and lovers die, who were infected themselves or who were on the frontlines trying to understand and battle a mysterious disease that was destroying an entire community. AIDS infected roughly half of the city’s gay male population, killing more than 19,000 by the end of 2009.
The film combines exceptional and heartbreaking stories with prodigious archival footage and historical research, to candidly and completely tell the story of the San Francisco gay community’s role in combating the epidemic and also the overarching political and social issues of American society in the 1980s. As a political activist who arrived in San Francisco in 1976, director David Weissman infuses every aspect of his film with profound and respectful honesty and true understanding of what really went on in the days of what is sadly called the “gay plague” of the early 1980s.
“An extraordinarily moving, beautifully edited documentary . . . there is not a hint of mawkishness, self-pity or self-congratulation. The humility, wisdom and cumulative sorrow expressed lend the film a glow of spirituality and infuse it with grace.” – Stephen Holden, The New York Times (Critics’ Pick)
“We Were Here keeps faith with the memory of San Francisco’s dead, and the dignity of the survivors, in its somber, unflinching poignancy.” – Slant magazine
“A simple, powerful act of bearing witness, We Were Here is a sober reminder of the not-too-distant past, when gays were focused not on honeymoon plans but on keeping people alive.” – Melissa Anderson, Village Voice
We Were Here will be released in the UK on 25 November.
