HIV/AIDS Documentaries
by big-gun | created - 12 Oct 2016 | updated - 06 Jul 2021 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. No Sad Songs (1985)
63 min | Documentary
Jim Black, a 37-year-old Canadian talks about the AIDS that is killing him. He talks about his life and his friends and how his brother's family has rejected him. Catherine Hunt is a ... See full summary »
Director: Nik Sheehan | Stars: Martha Cronen, David MacLean, David Roche, David Sereda
Votes: 21
2. Bright Eyes (1984)
85 min | Documentary
One of the earliest documentaries to deal with AIDS.
Director: Tony Harrild | Stars: Michael Callen, Stuart Marshall, Linda Semple, Tony Whitehead
3. Tongues Untied (1989)
Not Rated | 55 min | Documentary
A documentary about the experiences of black homosexual men living in the United States of America.
Director: Marlon Riggs | Stars: Marlon Riggs, Michael Bell, Kerrigan Black, Blackberri
Votes: 1,849
4. Silence = Death (1990)
60 min | Documentary
Director: Rosa von Praunheim | Stars: Bern Boyle, Emilio Cubeiro, Rafael Gamba, Allen Ginsberg
Votes: 69
5. Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989)
79 min | Documentary, Biography, History
A collection of profiles of people dead from AIDS who are remembered in the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman | Stars: Sara Lewinstein, David Mandell, Suzi Mandell, Sallie Perryman
Votes: 1,081
6. Die Aids-Trilogie: Positiv - Die Antwort schwuler Männer in New York auf AIDS (1990)
90 min | Documentary
Director: Rosa von Praunheim | Stars: Phil Zwickler, Larry Kramer, Michael Callen, Peter Staley
Votes: 45
7. Over Our Dead Bodies (1991)
74 min | Documentary
This film documents the origins of the AIDS activist movement in the US and the UK and the gay community's growing anger and frustration with the totally in adequate response of the US ... See full summary »
Director: Stuart Marshall | Stars: Kellan Farshea, Simon Watney
8. The Gay Man's Guide to Safer Sex (1992 Video)
Documentary
Director: David Lewis | Stars: Mike Youle, Adam Magnani, Richard Sandells, James Neale-Kennerley
Votes: 79
9.
America Undercover (1983– )
Episode:
The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter
(1993)
TV-MA | Documentary
America Undercover presents the video diary of Peter Jepson-Young a Vancouver physician who is dying from AIDS. It shows Dr. Peter's slow deterioration from disease, but also displays his ... See full summary »
Director: David Paperny | Star: Peter Jepson-Young
11. Dying for Love: A Lifetime Special on the Impact of AIDS on the American Woman (1987 TV Movie)
60 min | Documentary
Director: Shari Cookson
12.
ABC Afterschool Specials (1972–1997)
Episode:
Positive: A Journey Into AIDS
(1995)
Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Documentary following two actors from General Hospital as they research and talk to people living with HIV and AIDS.
Directors: Eamon Harrington, John Watkin | Stars: Kimberly McCullough, Michael Sutton, Francesca James, Steven Miles
Votes: 22
13. One Foot on a Banana Peel, the Other Foot in the Grave: Secrets from the Dolly Madison Room (1994)
79 min | Documentary
A group of AIDS patients share their stories in the doctor's office.
Directors: Juan Botas, Lucas Platt | Stars: Jonathan Demme, Juan Botas, Bernard Morisset, Daniel Chapman
Votes: 56
14. Life and Death on the A-List (1996)
Unrated | 50 min | Documentary
A look at the life and death of Tom McBride, All-American Boy, A-List gay, and an early victim of the AIDS epidemic.
Director: Jay Corcoran | Stars: Katherine Grubb, Patrick Kerr, Marcia Lippman, Anne McBride
Votes: 53
15. Battle for the Tiara (1998)
Short, Documentary
Chronicle of one of Hollywood's hottest amatuer drag shows.
Directors: Charley Lang, Eric Schiff
16. Lifecycles: A Story of AIDS in Malawi (2003)
56 min | Documentary
Lifecycles: a Story of AIDS in Malawi is a new hour long documentary film shot over an eight month period on location in Malawi, Africa. Malawi won't perish, but must grow with the virus as... See full summary »
Directors: Sierra Bellows, Doug Karr | Stars: Aleke Banda, Kondanani Kaluwa, Victor Kamanga, Stefan Luftl
17. State of Denial (2003)
86 min | Documentary
An unprecedented and unflinching look at how the citizens of South Africa are living with the AIDS epidemic, given the climate of governmental confusion and neglect.
Director: Elaine Epstein | Stars: Adurrazack Achmat, Joseph F. Lovett
Votes: 17
18. A Closer Walk (2003)
Documentary
This documentary examines the world AIDS crisis. The camera travels to Africa, where infections overwhelm the public health system and orphans face their own deaths, central Europe, where ... See full summary »
Director: Robert Bilheimer | Stars: Glenn Close, Will Smith, Kofi Annan, Bono
Votes: 149
19. The Self-Destruction of Gia (2003)
80 min | Documentary
Documentary on the life of Gia Carangi, often considered the first supermodel, who died from complications due to AIDS, at the age of 26.
Director: J.J. Martin | Stars: Gia Carangi, Janice Dickinson, Sandy Linter, Zoë Lund
Votes: 103
20. The Gift (II) (2003)
62 min | Documentary
Controversial documentary about gay men purposely contracting the AIDS virus.
Director: Louise Hogarth | Star: Doug Hitzel
Votes: 251
21. The Other Side of AIDS (2004)
87 min | Documentary
A controversial documentary look at the arguments suggesting that HIV is NOT the cause of AIDS.
Director: Robin Scovill | Stars: Margaret Heckler, Robert Gallo, Christine Maggiore, Frank Sontag
Votes: 169
22. Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal (2005)
91 min | Documentary, Crime, History
A shocking expose of a prison blood donor program during the Clinton governorship in Arkansas. Infected prisoners slipped through the cracks and tainted blood made it into pharmaceuticals ... See full summary »
Director: Kelly Duda | Stars: Edwin Barron Jr., John Byus, Kelly Duda, Hezile Earl
Votes: 50
23. Ending Aids: The Search for a Vaccine (2005)
Documentary
For the past 20 years, scientists around the world have been confronting one of the greatest medical challenges in human history: the search for an AIDS vaccine. Like detectives on the ... See full summary »
Director: Michael Schwarz | Star: Richard Gere
Votes: 26
24. To Touch the Soul (2007)
70 min | Documentary
CSULB Professor Carlos Silveira, an artist educator and social activist, wants to bring a sense of joy to impoverished children in Cambodia who are affected by HIV/AIDS. He has recruited 27... See full summary »
Director: Ryan Goble | Stars: Cassandra Hepburn, Saneya Bair, Heather Hamilton, John Lachey
Votes: 8
25. Sex Positive (2008)
R | 75 min | Documentary
Explores the life of Richard Berkowitz, a revolutionary gay S&M sex worker turned AIDS activist in the 1980s, whose incomparable contribution to the invention of safe sex has has never been aptly credited.
Director: Daryl Wein | Stars: Don Adler, Richard Berkowitz, Susan Brown, Demetre Daskalakis
Votes: 213 | Gross: $0.01M
26. I Am Because We Are (2008)
Not Rated | 90 min | Documentary
A look into the lives of Malawi's 1 million plus orphans in the wake of the AIDS pandemic. It offers hope and real solutions to the challenges that people face living in extreme poverty.
Director: Nathan Rissman | Stars: Bill Clinton, Paul Farmer, Madonna, Jeffrey Sachs
Votes: 403
27. House of Numbers: Anatomy of an Epidemic (2009)
Not Rated | 90 min | Documentary
What is HIV? What is AIDS? What is being done to cure it? These questions sent Canadian filmmaker Brent Leung on a worldwide journey, from the highest echelons of the medical research ... See full summary »
Director: Brent Leung | Stars: Luc Montagnier, Francois Barre-Sinnousi, Anthony Fauci, Kenneth Cole
Votes: 610
28. HIV/AIDS in Arkansas (2009 TV Movie)
26 min | Documentary
Each year, AETN airs 'HIV/AIDS in Arkansas' to dispel the myths and uncover the facts about HIV/AIDS transmission including statewide updates from local experts. The program details how the... See full summary »
Director: Kelly Duda
29. To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen's Journey (2010)
Not Rated | 104 min | Documentary, Biography, Drama
The definitive and true-life story of Nancy Kwan who as a young Eurasian girl from Hong Kong captured the hearts and minds of cinemagoers around the world in her stunning motion picture ... See full summary »
Director: Brian Jamieson | Stars: Sandra Allen, Marciano Batista, Joan Chen, Edward S. Feldman
Votes: 42
30. The Lazarus Effect (2010)
32 min | Documentary, Short
Patients and medical staff in Zambia speak about their experiences with free antiretroviral drug therapy and its effects on HIV/AIDS.
Director: Lance Bangs
Votes: 45
31. Bad Blood: A Cautionary Tale (2010)
TV-PG | 83 min | Documentary
From PBS - BAD BLOOD chronicles how a "miracle" treatment for hemophilia became an agent of death for 10,000 Americans.
Director: Marilyn Ness
Votes: 100
32. Tapestries of Hope (2009)
Unrated | 78 min | Documentary
Tapestries of Hope is the story of filmmaker Michealene Cristini Risley who traveled to Zimbabwe to document the work of Betty Makoni and the Girl Child Network. The film exposes an issue ... See full summary »
Director: Michealene Cristini Risley | Star: Betty Makoni
Votes: 36
33. Inside Lara Roxx (2011)
77 min | Documentary, Biography, Drama
In the Spring of 2004, an ambitious and naive Montreal girl named Lara Roxx headed to LA and tried her luck in the adult movie business. Within two months of working in this industry she ... See full summary »
Director: Mia Donovan | Stars: Rebekka Armstrong, Meriesa Arroyo, Anita Cannibal, Darren James
Votes: 58
34. We Were Here (I) (2011)
Not Rated | 90 min | Documentary, Biography, History
A deep and reflective look at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco and how individuals rose to the occasion during the first years of this unimaginable crisis.
Directors: David Weissman, Bill Weber | Stars: Ed Wolf, Daniel Goldstein, Guy Clark, Eileen Glutzer
Votes: 2,280
35. Vito (2011)
Not Rated | 93 min | Documentary, Biography, History
The story of Vito Russo, founding father of the gay liberation movement, author of "The Celluloid Closet," and vociferous AIDS activist in the 1980s.
Director: Jeffrey Schwarz | Stars: Phyllis Antonellis, George Bancroft, Richard Barrios, Edmund Bergler
Votes: 772
36. 30 Years from Here (2011 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 51 min | Documentary
The Emmy Award-nominated 30 Years from Here examines the AIDS pandemic over the past 30 years. Activists and medical experts that share stories include Terrence McNally, Larry Kramer, ... See full summary »
Director: Josh Rosenzweig | Stars: Regan Hoffman, John Knoebel, Frank Spinelli, David Drake
Votes: 23
37. United in Anger: A History of ACT UP (2012 Video)
93 min | Documentary
United in Anger: A History of ACT UP is an inspiring documentary about the birth and life of the AIDS activist movement from the perspective of the people in the trenches fighting the ... See full summary »
Director: Jim Hubbard | Stars: David Barr, Ken Bing, Gregg Bordowitz, Jim Eigo
Votes: 156
38. Deepsouth (2012)
Not Rated | 72 min | Documentary, News
A documentary about the new American South, and the people who inhabit its most quiet corners.
Director: Lisa Biagiotti
Votes: 31
39. Fire in the Blood (2013)
87 min | Documentary, History
An intricate tale of "medicine, monopoly and malice", FIRE IN THE BLOOD tells the story of how Western pharmaceutical companies and governments blocked access to low-cost AIDS drugs for the... See full summary »
Director: Dylan Mohan Gray | Stars: Zackie Achmat, Peter Mugyenyi, Bill Clinton, William Hurt
Votes: 798 | Gross: $0.03M
40. How to Survive a Plague (2012)
Not Rated | 110 min | Documentary, History, News
The story of two coalitions -- ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) -- whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition.
Director: David France | Stars: Peter Staley, Larry Kramer, Iris Long, Bob Rafsky
Votes: 4,355 | Gross: $0.13M
41. Who's Gonna Love Me Now? (2016)
84 min | Documentary
At 21, Saar was expelled from his religious kibbutz and fled to the UK. There he created a new family with the London Gay Men's Chorus and now, after 19 years, Saar reaches out to his old family in the hope of a reconciliation.
Directors: Barak Heymann, Tomer Heymann, Alexander Bodin Saphir | Stars: Saar Maoz, Alon, London Gay Men's Chorus Band, Elimelekh
Votes: 334
42. Memories of a Penitent Heart (2016)
TV-14 | 69 min | Documentary, Family
Twenty-five years after Miguel died of AIDS, his niece tracks down his estranged lover and cracks open a Pandora's box of unresolved family drama.
Director: Cecilia Aldarondo
Votes: 96
43. AIDS Diva: The Legend of Connie Norman (2021)
60 min | Documentary, History
Seizing her power as she confronts her mortality, trailblazing trans activist Connie Norman evolves as an irrepressible, challenging and soulful voice for the AIDS and queer communities of early 90's Los Angeles.
Director: Dante Alencastre | Stars: Peter Cashman, John Duran, Paul Langlotz, Mary Lucey
Votes: 76
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