Gus Van Sant To Exec Produce AIDS Activism Documentary

Academy Award-nominated director Gus Van Sant (DRUGSTORE COWBOY, MILK) has come on board as executive producer for the planned documentary ACT UP!, which traces the history of the activist group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power), which radicalized the gay community to press governments  to respond to the growing AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s. ACT UP’s founding New York chapter spawned branches throughout America and across the globe. Assembled from hundreds of hours of historic footage and contemporary interviews under the guidance of producers/directors  Scott Robbe (QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY) and Jerry Kolber (National Geographic Television), a major asset of the film is never-before-seen footage shot in 1987 and 1988 featuring interviews with key members of ACT UP amidst the organization’s most tumultuous period. ACT UP!, co-directed by award-winning documentarian Ellen Spiro (BODY OF WAR), will provide an important historical perspective on the early days of the AIDS epidemic and the ability for citizens to agitate the political and medical establishment to respond.

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