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James Wentzy | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 21, 1952 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | AIDS activist Documentary filmmaker |
James Wentzy is known as an AIDS activist and documentary filmmaker associated with ACT UP throughout the 1990s.
|
James Wentzy | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 21, 1952 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | AIDS activist Documentary filmmaker |
James Wentzy is known as an AIDS activist and documentary filmmaker associated with ACT UP throughout the 1990s.
Wentzy was born October 21, 1952, in Brookings, South Dakota, and moved to New York City after graduating the Southern Illinois University film program in 1976. [1] [2] Early on in his New York life Wentzy worked as a film cinematographer for the porn industry, then later as a printer for various photographers. In 1990 he was diagnosed with HIV. That year he joined ACT UP. His participation in ACT UP consists of angry, raw, and thorough coverage mostly consisting of unedited shots with addition of activist interviews who cover the topics discussed in the show.
He has been a producer and director for DIVA TV since 1991, and is also a video archivist for the Estate Project's AIDS Activist Video Preservation Project for the New York Public Library. Fight Back, Fight AIDS was his first feature-length documentary. [1] Wentzy's goal within DIVA TV was to create a "national media network devoted to reflecting the struggles, needs and state of mind of people affected by AIDS."
He served as cinematographer on the 2012 documentary film about ACT UP, United in Anger: A History of ACT UP . [3]
He is currently being shown at Los Angeles' MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art).
The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, often abbreviated to AIDS Memorial Quilt or AIDS Quilt, is an enormous memorial to celebrate the lives of people who have died of AIDS-related causes. Weighing an estimated 54 tons, it is the largest piece of community folk art in the world as of 2020.
AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, and working to change legislation and public policies.
David Michael Wojnarowicz ( VOY-nə-ROH-vitch was an American painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, songwriter/recording artist, and AIDS activist prominent in the East Village art scene. He incorporated personal narratives influenced by his struggle with AIDS as well as his political activism in his art until his death from the disease in 1992.
Sarah Miriam Schulman is an American novelist, playwright, nonfiction writer, screenwriter, gay activist, and AIDS historian. She is a Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at College of Staten Island (CSI) and a Fellow at the New York Institute for the Humanities. She is a recipient of the Bill Whitehead Award.
Emerging from ACT UP in 1988, Gran Fury was an AIDS activist artist collective from New York City consisting of 11 members including: Richard Elovich, Avram Finkelstein, Amy Heard, Tom Kalin, John Lindell, Loring McAlpin, Marlene McCarty, Donald Moffett, Michael Nesline, Mark Simpson and Robert Vazquez-Pacheco.
Vito Russo was an American LGBT activist, film historian, and author. He is best remembered as the author of the book The Celluloid Closet, described in The New York Times as "an essential reference book" on homosexuality in the US film industry. In 1985 he co-founded the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, a media watchdog organization that strives to end anti-LGBT rhetoric, and advocates for LGBT inclusion in popular media.
Diana's Hair Ego is an American documentary film about AIDS and one unconventional woman's efforts to educate her small, Southern community. While documenting an AIDS quarantine controversy in South Carolina with DIVA TV, filmmaker Ellen Spiro met DiAna DiAna, a local hairdresser who transformed her beauty parlor into a center for AIDS and safe sex information.
DIVA TV was a gay and lesbian video activist collective founded in New York City in 1989. The name was an acronym for "Damned Interfering Video Activist Television". Founding members include: Bob Beck, Gregg Bordowitz, Jean Carlomusto, Rob Kurilla, Ray Navarro, Costa Pappas, George Plagianos, Catherine Saalfield, and Ellen Spiro.
Stop the Church was a demonstration organized by members of AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power on December 10, 1989, that disrupted a Mass being said by Cardinal John O'Connor at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. One-hundred and eleven protesters were arrested, 53 of whom were arrested inside the church. The main objective of the demonstration was to protest O'Connor's opposition to the teaching of safe sex in the public school system, and his opposition to the distribution of condoms to curb the spread of AIDS. During planning, the protest was joined by Women's Health Action and Mobilization (WHAM!), who opposed the Catholic position on abortion rights.
Robert Hilferty was an American journalist, filmmaker, and AIDS activist based in New York City.
Take This Hammer is a 1964 American documentary film produced and directed by KQED (TV)'s Richard O. Moore for National Educational Television in 1963. The film first aired on February 4, 1964 in the Bay Area, at 7:30pm on Ch.9 KQED.
How to Survive a Plague is a 2012 American documentary film about the early years of the AIDS epidemic, and the efforts of activist groups ACT UP and TAG. It was directed by David France, a journalist who covered AIDS from its beginnings. France's first film, it was dedicated to his partner Doug Gould who died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1992. The documentary was produced using more than 700 hours of archived footage which included news coverage, interviews as well as film of demonstrations, meetings and conferences taken by ACT UP members themselves. France says they knew what they were doing was historic, and that many of them would die. The film, which opened in select theatres across the United States on September 21, 2012, also includes footage of a demonstration during mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in 1989.
Gregg Bordowitz is a writer, artist and activist currently working as a professor in the Video, New Media, and Animation department at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Peter Staley is an American political activist, known primarily for his work in HIV/AIDS activism. As an early and influential member of ACT UP, New York, he founded both the Treatment Action Group (TAG) and the educational website AIDSmeds.com. Staley is a primary figure in the Oscar-nominated documentary How to Survive a Plague.
Catherine Gund is an Australian-born American producer, director, writer, and activist who founded Aubin Pictures in 1996. Catherine Gund's films have been featured in numerous film festivals and on national television networks.
United in Anger: A History of ACT UP is a 2012 documentary film directed by Jim Hubbard about the beginning and progress of the AIDS activist movement from the perspective of the people fighting the epidemic. Archival footage with oral histories of members of ACT UP depicts the history of civil disobedience against corporate greed, social indifference, and government negligence in the face of AIDS. Producers Jim Hubbard and Sarah Schulman created a documentary film that captures the efforts of ACT UP to remove the stigma associated with AIDS, fast track experimental drug research and testing, and provide a context for the devastating effects of the epidemic. Film includes several actions by ACT UP: Seize Control of the FDA, Stop the Church, and Day of Desperation.
The AIDS pandemic began in the early 1980s and brought with it a surge of emotions from the public: they were afraid, angry, fearful and defiant. The arrival of AIDS also brought with it a condemnation of the LGBT community. These emotions, along with the view on the LGBT community, paved the way for a new generation of artists. Artists involved in AIDS activist organizations had the ideology that while art could never save lives as science could, it may be able to deliver a message. Art of the AIDS crisis typically sought to make a sociopolitical statement, stress the medical impact of the disease, or express feelings of longing and loss. The ideologies were present in conceptions of art in the 1980s and are still pertinent to reception of art today as well. Elizabeth Taylor, for example, spoke at a benefit for AIDS involving artwork, emphasizing its importance to activism in that "art lives on forever". This comment articulates the ability of artwork from this time to teach and impact contemporary audiences, post-crisis. This page examines the efforts of artists, art collectives, and art movements to make sense of such an urgent pandemic in American society.
Jean Carlomusto is a New York filmmaker, AIDS activist, and interactive media artist. She produced and directed HBO's Emmy nominated documentary, Larry Kramer in Love & Anger, which was featured at the Sundance Film Festival. Her works have been exhibited internationally in festivals, museums and on television. She was an early pioneer in documenting the AIDS crisis. As the founder of the Multimedia Unit at Gay Men's Health Crisis, she created the television series Living with AIDS. She was a founding member of DIVA TV and a member of the Testing The Limits Video Collective.
Lola Flash is an American photographer whose work has often focused on social, LGBT and feminist issues. An active participant in ACT UP during the time of the AIDS epidemic in New York City, Flash was notably featured in the 1989 "Kissing Doesn't Kill" poster.
Raymond Navarro was an American video artist, filmmaker, and HIV/AIDS activist. Navarro was an active member of ACT UP and a founder of Diva TV. His activism was featured in the documentary How to Survive a Plague. Navarro's art was exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, and in Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA.
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