The first major film, either televised or theatrical, to deal with the AIDS epidemic, Frost stars Aidan Quinn as a gay man who returns home to break the news to his family that he is living with HIV. It was watched by over 34 million people, garnered 14 Emmy nominations and won 3.
In Steve Buscemi’s first major film role, he plays a gay man living with HIV. The director, Bill Sherwood, died of an AIDS-related illness in 1990 without completing another film.
This documentary explores black gay culture in the '80s, including the loss of many to AIDS.
Longtime Companion was the first wide-release theatrical film to tackle HIV/AIDS. The title is taken from the words used by the New York Times's description of the partner of someone who had died from an AIDS-related illness.
Two men living with HIV run from the law in classic Thelma & Louise-style.
This indie musical finds a 19th century English explorer meeting the first AIDS patient.
Ian McKellen and Lily Tomlin star in this film about the discovery of the virus.
Tom Hanks plays a wronged lawyer, fired after it's revealed that he has HIV.
A boy finds out his best friend has AIDS and plans a trip to New Orleans to find the cure.
A young gay man in New York believes he'll be safe from contracting HIV/AIDS if he stays celibate. But things get complicated when he falls for a man living with HIV.
Chloë Sevigny plays a teenage girl who wants to save other young women from the boy who gave her HIV.
Mary-Louise Parker plays a woman with AIDS who embarks on a road trip with a recently single lesbian (Whoopi Goldberg) and a young woman escaping an abusive relationship (Drew Barrymore).
Eric Roberts plays a man dying from AIDS who throws a party before he plans to kill himself. One of the first films to address the topic of someone living with AIDS and dying on their own terms, the film was based on the life of Harry Stein, director Randal Kleiser’s ex-lover.
The film connects three women of different generations through Virginia Woolf, one of which (Meryl Streep) is planning an award party for her best friend who has AIDS.
This film follows the love story of a young conservative and a gay rights activist, concluding when one of them contracts HIV in the '80s and the other tries to get him home from Mexico.
This HBO mini-series is based on Tony Kushner's award-winning play about the start of the AIDS epidemic in New York City.
It's one of the most iconic musicals of our time and a beautiful portrait of friendship and community, set against the AIDS-ridden East Village at the turn of the millenium.
Queen Latifah plays a woman living with HIV who is overcoming her drug addiction and working with an AIDS outreach group.
A doctor begins an affair with a young man who soon finds out he has AIDS.
A young woman with HIV strives for an education and a way out from her mother's abuse.
This documentary follows the AIDS outbreak and the uprising of queer protesters.
In this heartbreaking true story, an Irish woman goes searching for her son whom she was forced to give up for adoption as a baby, only to find he's involved in the HIV/AIDS crisis.
After a Texas man finds out he has AIDS, he refuses to die without any resources and smuggles life-saving drugs from Mexico.
Larry Kramer's powerful, heartbreaking work comes to life in the HBO film about early HIV/AIDS fighters in New York City.
A boxer in 1980s Cuba is assigned to be the a companion for an HIV-positive war veteran confined by the government to a sanatorium.
This true love story follows a couple from when they first met in high school to when one dies from AIDS and the other struggles to write their story before losing his mind to the disease.
This story set in 1990s Paris tells the story of the intimate relationship between Sean and Nathan, two members of ACT UP Paris, set against the backdrop of the group’s fight to secure medication for people living with HIV.
Though the film infamously fudged the details around Freddie Mercury's HIV diagnosis, and its method of storytelling ultimately shamed him, his sexuality, and his HIV status, it nevertheless is one of the few biopics that centers a person of color living with HIV.
Two young gay men meet at a sex club in the first 20 minutes of Paris 05:59, which is an extremely explicit French film about a one-night stand. One of the two is living with HIV and their encounter leads them both to go to the hospital to pick up post-exposure prophylaxis together.
Though most people know David France’s How to Survive a Plague, 2012 saw several films about ACT UP come out and this one, directed by ACT UP members Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard, shows the mechanics behind orchestrating some of the group’s biggest demonstrations.
A genius lyricist, Howard Ashman was behind acclaimed works like Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Little Shop of Horrors. In Howard, he becomes the subject, and the director tracks not only Ashman's success but how that was impacted by complicatons related to HIV and AIDS.
