Medical Humanities Collective to host AIDS film festival series

The Medical Humanities Collective, part of the College of Liberal Arts, is hosting a film festival series this fall focused on the history of AIDS and the effects still present in American culture resulting from the AIDS epidemic.

The series, which is being co-sponsored by the Indiana University School of Medicine-West Lafayette, will run through early December. Screenings will take place 7-10 p.m. in Rawls Hall, Room 1011, and are free and open to the public.

Upcoming films:

• Oct. 3: “Nothing Without Us: The Women Who Will End AIDS”
• Oct. 17: “The Transformation: Reconciling Identity After HIV Diagnosis” and “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (No Regrets)”
• Oct. 31: “This is Not an AIDS Advertisement” and “Zero Patience”
• Nov. 14: “Asmaa”
• Dec. 2: “Wilhemina’s War: Fighting AIDS and HIV in the South” and “The Lazarus Effect”

The Medical Humanities Collective is an outgrowth of the Cancer Culture and Community program, a partnership between CLA, the Oncological Sciences Center and Discovery Park that ended in 2017. Since transitioning to CLA, the collective has broadened its focus beyond cancer to explore different illnesses at the intersection of arts, culture and medicine.

The collective will continue its exploration of AIDS next semester with the following programs:

• Purdue Theatre will present “Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches” from Feb. 21 to March 1. Richard Stockton Rand, a member of the collective, will direct the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play.
• In conjunction with the play, the Rueff Galleries’ West Gallery will host an exhibition Feb. 10-28 on the art and history of HIV/AIDS as well as AIDS activism and legislation. The gallery will hold a reception at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 27. Both Purdue Theatre and the Rueff Galleries are housed in the Rueff School of Design, Art and Performance in Pao Hall.
• On March 3, author Rebecca Makkai will give a Q&A and reading from her novel “The Great Believers,” set against the backdrop of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. The book was shortlisted for the National Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction.

Source: Geraldine Friedman, friedman@purdue.edu
Writer: Angela Roberts, akroberts@purdue.edu