Santa Barbara International Film Festival – Commitment to Life is required viewing for any member or ally of the queer community. The new documentary from director Jeffrey Schwarz traces the history and response to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome in Los Angeles and beyond. Tracing the history of the AIDS epidemic, the film explores the early response to “Gay Cancer” as it was initially called, as it emerges in Los Angeles in the early 80s, through to the discovery of its relative containment at the hands of a resilient community.

As the film opens, we are centered in Los Angeles. Under the shadow of the Hollywood sign a vibrant community of gays and lesbians was growing in West Hollywood and elsewhere. Through first-hand accounts, we are treated to recollections of what it felt like for outsiders to find community and belonging. We also hear from people who were there when friends started to die. In one scene Jewel Thais-Williams (Owner of LA’s POC Gay nightclub CATCH ONE) recalls how one of her drag performers didn’t show up for a Thursday night performance. The same performer was dead just two weeks later. What’s worse, as the disease spread in the gay community, the victims were blamed for their “sinful” lifestyle.

We then turn our attention to the grassroots effort that created  AIDS Project Los Angeles. Initially spanning only two small rooms in an office, APLA created phone banks for support and a food resource for those dealing with AIDS. Yet more was needed. That is when they got Hollywood involved and things took off. Elizabeth Taylor becomes the spokeswoman for APLA and soon they had the world’s attention Yes, the film plays like a commercial for APLA at times and was funded by the organization, but man. What a commercial. What a worthy subject.

Schwarz exhaustively recounts the history of the APLA while supporting it with interviews with individuals that survived the AIDS crisis. Along with Thais-Williams are words from Bruce Villanche, Jim J. Bullock, Melissa Rivers and appearances and footage featuring Tom Hanks, Bette Midler, and Madonna. The Celebration of Life event was a fundraising dinner that grew into THE fundraising event for AIDS treatment and research. All of it from the tenacity of the marginalized Los Angeles queer community of the 80s. As Schwarz drives home, it was this celebration that ultimately contributed to a light at the end of the tunnel.

The fact that today’s queer youth are mostly ignorant of the devastation and loss of their predecessors is both a curse and a testament. What was once a precarious death sentence is, for the most part, something that can be managed today thanks to the hard work of so very many. It is that message that resonates deeper than anything else in the film. We can be grateful for how far we have come in the fight against HIV/AIDS but we must never forget the lives lost and the hours spent to get us to this point. Commitment to Life is an invaluable film in that it archives this stretch of time with the silver lining of hope and a blueprint for future trials.

7 out of 10