Beat the Drum

Angels in America - Part One: Millennium Approaches

December 2023 •Hebrew

America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, six New Yorkers with interconnect lives grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell.

I Love You Phillip Morris

February 2010 •English

Steven Russell leads a seemingly average life – an organ player in the local church, happily married to Debbie, and a member of the local police force. That is until he has a severe car accident that leads him to the ultimate epiphany: he’s gay and he’s going to live life to the fullest – even if he has to break the law to do it. Taking on an extravagant lifestyle, Steven turns to cons and fraud to make ends meet and is eventually sent to the State Penitentiary where he meets the love of his life, a sensitive, soft-spoken man named Phillip Morris. His devotion to freeing Phillip from jail and building the perfect life together prompts him to attempt (and often succeed at) one impossible con after another.

Reagan

August 2024 •English

Told through the voice of former KGB agent Viktor Petrovich, whose life becomes inextricably linked with Ronald Reagan's when Reagan first caught the Soviets’ attention as an actor in Hollywood, Reagan overcomes the odds to become the 40th president of the United States.

Your Body, Your Responsibility

January 1989 •Haitian

Se Met Ko is a model fictional analysis of attitudes and misconceptions about AIDS within a Haitian-American neighbourhood. The video uses indigenous cultural references and socially-specific occasions to demonstrate how communities, with individuals acting in enlightened co-operation, can responsibly respond to the AIDS crisis.

Mysterious Skin

March 2005 •English

A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.

The Web of Silence - A.I.D.S.

April 1994 •Italian

Walter is HIV positive and is leading a promiscuis life in Rome. He does this so that he won’t infect his wife. Walter’s wife is also cheating on him. In a decidedly dull subplot, Walter’s father is a senator who wants to use his son’s illness to promote his own political career by calling for more AIDS research.

Chceš zabít?

April 1988 •Czech

Poison

April 1991 •English

A trio of interweaved transgressive tales, telling a bizarre stories of suburban patricide and a miraculous flight from justice, a mad sex experiment which unleashes a disfiguring plague, and the obsessive sexual relationship between two prison inmates.

A Long Road to Tao

April 2024 •English

Inspired by a true story of best friends (Dayne and Lance) who mysteriously lose touch, then reunite when Dayne discovers that Lance is dying of AIDS. A journey ensues as spiritual enlightenment unfolds through sea, sand and nature, embracing acceptance of the inevitable death of his best friend and the rising of consciousness. A Long Road to Tao will encourage audiences to reach a depth of becoming water, facing fears and accepting the flow of love as love.

A boy called Hope

August 2010 •Xhosa

Against all odds Themba realizes his dream playing for the National soccer team, Bafana Bafana.

House of Boys

November 2009 •English

It is 1984. Frank is a determined English teenager who runs away from high school to find an alternative gay lifestyle in Amsterdam. He finds a home and a job at the "House of Boys", a bar-cum-brothel run by a strict Madame who has an eye for what his punters crave. Frank works his way up from barman to on-stage dancer and falls in love with some of his housemates, Jake. The first intimations of what is described as 'the gay cancer', casts a long shadow over Frank's tight-knit group of friends. Yet despite the troubles that cloud the hopes and dreams of young Frank, his perseverance, along with support from a willing doctor, will carry him through.

Lääkärinvala

Invalid date •Finnish

In 1983 Finland, a sidelined dermatologist ends up leading the country's fight against the AIDS epidemic when fear of the spread of the disease and its effects on patients puts his morale and family relationships to the test.

It's My Party

March 1996 •English

Nick, a gay, HIV-positive architect, begins to display severe symptoms of AIDS and makes preparations to kill himself before he is unable to function normally. He arranges a party to reconnect and say goodbye to his closest friends and his confused parents. But when his ex-partner, Brandon, a television director who left Nick when he was diagnosed with HIV, shows up, what was supposed to be a celebratory event becomes much more difficult for everyone.

The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo

September 2025 •Spanish

As an unknown and deadly disease begins to spread, legend has it that it is transmitted between two men, through a simple glance, when they fall in love. While people are accusing her family, Lidia must find out whether this myth is real or not.

Pull Your Head to the Moon: Stories of Creole Women

January 1992 •English

A gay man living through the HIV/AIDS crisis reflects upon his recent history of loss with the help of his grandmother, who tells him a story of her own trauma and loss during the Jim Crow-era South.

The Victims

September 1989 •English

An immigrant rises from humble beginnings to build a successful life with his devoted partner. But just as they begin to live the American Dream, the AIDS crisis intrudes, testing the strength of their bond and the limits of their resilience.

tick, tick... BOOM!

November 2021 •English

On the brink of turning 30, a promising theater composer navigates love, friendship and the pressure to create something great before time runs out.

Tender Heart

September 1999 •

A Death in the Family

September 1987 •English

Andy’s friends confront both their own mortality and the deadly new disease stalking their community, while his conservative family grapples with never having come to terms with his sexuality.

The Tenderness

October 1989 •Swedish

Two days in young Rasmus life. Day one he tells his parents that he has AIDS. Day two when he dies, in the wake of the disease.