We Were Here

Dir: David Weissman, USA, 2011, Digibeta, 90 mins

We Were Here is the first film to take a deep and reflective look back at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco, and how the city's inhabitants dealt with that unprecedented calamity.

The film focuses on 5 individuals who lived in San Francisco prior to the epidemic. Their lives changed in unimaginable ways when their beloved city changed from a hotbed of sexual freedom and social experimentation into the epicentre of a terrible sexually transmitted plague. From their different vantage points as caregivers, activists, researchers, as friends and lovers of the afflicted, and as people with AIDS themselves, the interviewees share stories which are not only intensely personal, but which also illuminate the much larger themes of that era: the political and sexual complexities, the terrible emotional toll, and the role of women – particularly lesbians – in caring for and fighting for their gay brothers.

2011 will mark 30 years since AIDS descended. The death years of AIDS left the city ravaged and exhausted and in most of the developed world the worst may seem past – but with alarming HIV infection rates worldwide, including NZ, now is not the time for wilful forgetfulness. Unmissable.

“…One of the standout films at Sundance…a powerful snapshot of a time in American history that few are fully aware of.”  - Peter Knegt, indieWIRE

“…documents the epidemic through a powerful combination of first-hand testimony, archival photography and TV news footage.” - Peter Debruge, Variety

“…absolutely electrifying.” - Armistead Maupin

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