Common Threads

When the AIDS epidemic first hit America, the conservative Reagan administration hid their heads in the sand and did their very best to ignore it. Inspired to take action, Cleve Jones (a friend of Harvey Milk) developed the NAMES Project Memorial Quilt as a monument to celebrate the lives of those who had died and draw attention to the crisis. Each of the Quilt’s 91,000 panels represents the life of one person. Using archive footage and interviews, the Oscar winning Common Threads tells the stories of people from all walks of life now commemorated on the Quilt and how awareness of AIDS developed through the 1980s. The interviews make it impossible to ignore the significance of AIDS and it’s often very difficult to watch, every name and statistic given a deserved humanity. Particularly hard-hitting is the heartbreaking story of David Mandell, a young hemophiliac who contracted HIV through infected blood products and who we hear from as his condition steadily worsens. An incredibly powerful and unforgettable piece of work.