Although we wrote about the Oscar nominated AIDS documentary 'How To Survive A Plague' earlier, today I'll add some new information that may be interesting to film buffs and/or AIDS activists. The movie has invoked a worldwide dialog concerning the epidemic, which is indeed a historical moment. Director/Producer David France is an award winning journalist and one of the best known chroniclers of the AIDS epidemic. This documentary is his directorial debut and he sets the example on how to make an excellent movie without any prior experience in directing. The extremely positive reception shows that the topic of HIV/AIDS has gone mainstream now and the US State Department is showing the film around the globe as part of its human rights campaign.

This reconciliation between the US Federal Government and the AIDS activists is also illustrated through the story of Ed Koch -New York's Mayor in the 80's- who endorsed the film, despite being portrayed as its 'villain' in it. This is a project containing about 800 hours of raw material that had to be cut into a 1 hr. 49 min. movie, which took 18 months of editing. The documentary is very cinematic and artistic and truly brings the 80's back to life. 

More information at http://surviveaplague.com/ and  http://oscar.go.com/

*  Just so you know, the musical mystery “Searching for Sugar Man” won the Oscar 2013 for 'Documentary'.