New Show Opens in NY: DAVID WEISSMAN'S 'WE WERE HERE' (AIDS New Light?)

BY: CHRISTOPHER DONALDSON

As I settled into the opening credits ofWe Were Here—the David Weissman directed documentary about the AIDS pandemic in 1980s San Francisco—my first thought was: “I wasn’t there.”

Minutes later, the film would open entire histories then transport me all the way back in time, roughly 30 years, to San Francisco as it had existed in the few days, months and years before and after doctors first recognized AIDS in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

There I met a nurse, a researcher, a florist, a hospital volunteer and a political activist, all of whom watched San Francisco shift from alternative, free-loving Bohemia to epicenter of one of the greatest tragedies—the AIDS epidemic— to fall over any city in the USA. But even then, before doctors knew anything about the disease, it was already too late: By 1981, almost 50 percent of the city’s gay population carried the virus.

Soon after We Were Here rolled its last credit, I managed to do a tear-stained stumble from my couch into the warm, dirty Los Angeles streets. For the first time in my life, I felt as if I finally understood how much loss our great community really suffered. I finally understood how that same community, marginalized by a political system designed to push gay men and women to the edge, often inspired each other at great lengths during those troubled years in crisis. I felt as if I was there, on Castro Street, the entire time. Which is why I decided to sit down with someone who actually was: Director David Weissman.

We Were Here opens in New York City September 9, in Los Angeles September 16, and there's an advanced screening / fundraiser in Los Angeles on September 14.

For more information, visit: http://wewereherefilm.com/

Why did you move from Los Angeles to San Francisco in the late 1970s?

I had been living in Venice Beach, but it was gentrifying, so I visited San Francisco in 1976 and never looked back. You have to understand that the city was very political, very counterculture then. The "sixties" were fading away elsewhere, but in San Francisco the spirit of those years kept evolving in really interesting and creative ways. It was where my people lived—the alternative gays, the political gays and the long-haired gays. I realized that San Francisco was where my family was.

What kind of impact did the AIDS epidemic have on you and your friends?

It completely changed my life. Beginning in my late twenties, it was 15 years of people dying, and community coming together to fight for our lives, our dignity. It’s hard to put into words without sounding banal. The movie speaks to that. I lost countless friends. I was a caregiver. I was in denial most of the time. It had an impact on everyone living in San Francisco at the time. It just changed life dramatically in every respect.

How did you find the 5 interviewees for your movie?

They were all people I just happened to be in conversation with at one time or another. I describe it as being an organic process. I sought out people to some degree, but mostly it was an intuitive process. I was looking for a kind of openness, a kind of willingness to introspect in a deep way, in a public context. I was looking for emotionally generous people.

Did you know any of them before you decided to make the film?

I knew all of them to some degree. It’s unusual. I don’t think it would happen that way normally, but the process was so intuitive, and they worked really well. I had to go with my intuition. Many people have said I picked the perfect five people.

Do you think the epidemic, in any way, transformed the gay rights movement?

Yes, in countless ways, both good and bad. The suffering and losses can’t be seen as anything other than horrendous. But it gave us enormous visibility. We found tremendous strength demanding our rights, fighting for treatments and care, and in caring for each other. It really helped bring together the lesbian and gay male communities in wonderful ways.

This article was originally posted on http://www.gay.net