...The First Feature Movie About The AIDS Epidemic Restored After 33 Years.

 

“Buddies,” was the first feature film about AIDS released in 1985, preceding An Early Frost  by two months.  It was a snapshot of the incredible struggle and fight between life and death for gay men in New York City during the darkest hours of the epidemic.

The movie made its debut at the Castro Theater in San Francisco on Sept. 12, 1985, and then went on to independent art-house runs in New York, Boston, Chicago and other cities before being lost and forgotten for over 30 years.

“Buddies” is about  Robert (Geoff Edholm), a 32-year-old gay man dying of AIDS, who is visited at the hospital by David (David Schachter), a 25-year-old volunteer “buddy.” Man gay men (and lesbians) volunteered as “buddies” in New York City to take care for the many gay men who were alone and came down with the deadly disease . Robert and David develop a friendship that eventually becomes intimate. The film ends with Robert’s death; David, emboldened by Robert’s activist spirit, pickets the White House.(Ronald Reagan who was President at that time turned his back on thousands of gay men who were dying from the dreaded disease.)

Our review is here

To buy it, click on the pic!