Co-producers of “United in Anger: A History of ACT UP” Jim Hubbard and Sarah Schulman will be screening the film along with a discussion at the Athena Cinema on Monday.
On a campus where students are participating in protest, sit-ins and rallies, activism is important to many Ohio University students. But this is not new phenomenon.
Co-producers Jim Hubbard and Sarah Schulman of AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power will present a showing of United in Anger: A History of ACT UP at the Athena Cinema on Monday at 7 p.m. The screening will be followed by a discussion session to look at the history of activism in relation to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Schulman will also be reading from her latest book The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination on Tuesday at 11 a.m. in the Women’s Center, Baker Center room 403.
Since 1987, ACT UP has supported medical research, changes in legislation and better treatment for those with AIDS. Its motto, “Silence = Death,” speaks volumes as to what Hubbard and Schulman aimed for in their film.
By detailing the history of ACT UP and showing how it is related to other political movements such as the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-Vietnam War movement, the feminist movement and the queer movement, the film is able to meet its goals, according to Hubbard.
“The film has two main purposes: first to put the history of AIDS activism into mainstream U.S. history where it rightfully belongs and the second is to encourage more direct, progressive political action,” said Hubbard, whose film has been shown all over the world at other college campuses, film festivals and museums since 2012.
Delfin Bautista, director of the LGBT Center, said it can be hard for students to relate, with many not growing up in the time when HIV/AIDS had such a huge impact in the country during the ’80s and ’90s.
“Hopefully ... people will be able to engage and learn and take away a new perspective on our history and how that history can inform their life today, not only in terms of HIV/AIDS awareness ... but advocacy, activism and social justice,” Bautista said.
Sarah Jenkins, program coordinator for the LGBT and Women’s centers, said it’s important to remember the past.
“I don't think people really understand how AIDS discovery affects America and the ways that gay folks were discriminated against,” Jenkins said. “As history goes on, people forget the struggle, and we take for granted what we have. We don't really remember the people that sacrificed a lot for us.”
And that’s where United in Anger comes in.
By highlighting activist movements such as Seize Control of the FDA and Stop the Church, Hubbard and Schulman’s film expands on the importance of political activism with the hopes of renewing interest in HIV/AIDS awareness.
“The film is a blueprint for how to conduct thoughtful, long-term, goal-oriented grassroots political activism,” Hubbard said.
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