Curl up with these strippers, hippies and divas to catch the latest viral-video wave
Circuit (2002)
Drama, 130 minutes
Distributed by Jour de Fete
www.circuitmovie.com
POZ cover boy Paul Lekakis (February 2000) plays stripper-with-HIV Bobby Rocks in former Playgirl centerfold Dirk Shafer's film about the narcissism, hedonism and other riches of the gay-clubbing culture known as Circuit Parties. An ex-cop's small-town-to-big-city move quickly lands him underneath West Hollywood's biggest disco ball, where an abundance of unsafe sex and drugs makes Studio 54 look like a monastery.
The Cockettes (2002)
Documentary, 99 minutes
Distributed by Strand Releasing
www.strandreleasing.com
Long before performance art and gender-bending there was the Cockettes, the late '60s San Francisco pansexual theater group that shared the love 24/7. Directors David Weissman and Bill Weber chronicle the fabled flight of these free spirits led by the inimitable Hibiscus, a 1983 casualty of AIDS.
Bombay Eunuch (2001)
Documentary, 71 minutes
Gidalya Films, 212.358.9620
Alexandra Shiva opens a window on the world of India's Hijra community -- an "extended family" of third-sex'ers voluntarily castrated at age 18. This is a poignant, witty tribute to a once-revered culture where ostracism, AIDS, prostitution and poverty have taken their toll.
Kevin's Room (2001)
Drama, 60 minutes
Black Cat Productions
www.blackcatfilm.net
Initially produced as an AIDS-awareness short for gay and bi men of color in Chicago, Sharon Zurek's unsentimental film centers on Kevin, a social worker who starts a support group for African-American gay men. The room becomes a place where real talk of coming out, condom use, HIV, race and religion taps a well of laughter, tears and fellow feeling.
6,000 a Day (2001)
Documentary, 55 minutes
First Run/Icarus Films
www.frif.com
The AIDS catastrophe never had to happen, say veterans of amfAR, ACT UP, UNAIDS and other first-line survivors of the early years. With gripping testimony to the neglect, stigma and sexual panic that still drive HIV transmission, director Philip Brooks makes a case that HIV is a conspiracy of hate.
Undetectable: The New Face of AIDS (2001)
Documentary, 57 minutes
Distributed by Fanlight Productions
www.fanlight.com
The no-sugar-coating Jay Corcoran tracks the ups and downs of six AIDS Lazaruses who are living the HAART "miracle" -- complete with every side effect and future shock imaginable. As real as it gets -- and what a relief!
It's My Life (2001)
Documentary, 72 minutes
First Run/Icarus Films
www.frif.com
Director Brian Tilley follows gonzo Zackie Achmat, a South African AIDS activist who not only risks his health on an HIV-meds strike to spotlight his fellow HIVers dying for drugs, but runs around the country raising treatment-access hell.
