Living With AIDS

`Living With AIDS' is a frank insight into the lives of four gay Melbourne men. In the program, the four speak openly about when they first learned they had the AIDS virus, how they cope, how it affects their day-to-day existence, how they come to terms with their physical deterioration and mental situation and the response of their families and the community at large. It captures on film a reality that includes death threats, discrimination, determination and a successful photographic exhibition. It is also the story of the people who help and care for AIDS victims. Two of the men, Colin (27), a photographer, and Ian, were filmed in the final stages of their lives. Peter Charlton and Chris Carter, political researcher, were HIV positive but had not then developed AIDS. The four men discuss how the illness has affected their lives, the discrimination they have experienced and how they have come to terms with the prospect of death with the help of AIDS support workers. It is an inspirational program that shows the triumph of the human spirit over suffering and death. Director Shayne Mooney