In Cannes’ Grand Prix winner BPM, AIDS activists engage in radical protests against uncaring government groups and pharmaceutical companies in an effort to provide resources for people living with HIV and AIDS related illnesses.

In Paris in the early 1990s, a group of activists goes to battle for those stricken with HIV/AIDS, taking on sluggish government agencies and major pharmaceutical companies in bold, invasive actions. The organization is ACT UP, and its members, many of them gay and HIV-positive, embrace their mission with a literal life-or-death urgency. Amid rallies, protests, fierce debates and ecstatic dance parties, the newcomer Nathan falls in love with Sean, the group’s radical firebrand, and their passion sparks against the shadow of mortality as the activists fight for a breakthrough.

Critic Quotes:

“Here, as characters hit the streets for demonstrations, hit the discos to relax and hit the skids when they get sick, you’re there with them, pulse pounding out more beats per minute than you might have thought possible.” – NPR

“Campillo has taken his own experience as an ACT UP organizer and turned it into the best kind of cinematic memoir, a cathartic invocation of a lost moment.”  – Slate

“Necessarily insular and sometimes claustrophobic, a reminder of a time not long ago when the AIDS crisis was both roundly ignored and deeply stigmatized.” – The Atlantic

“In spite of its historical specificity, “BPM” never feels like a bulletin from the past. Its immediacy comes in part from the brisk naturalism of the performances and the nimbleness and fluidity of the editing.” – The New York Times

“Robin Campillo’s outstanding AIDS activist drama melds the personal, the political and the erotic to heart-bursting effect.” – Variety

Runtime: 140 minutes

Rating: UR

Director: Robin Campillo

Country: France

Language: French w/ English subtitles

Showtimes:

Friday, December 1: 1:25, 6:30

Saturday, December 2: 10:00AM, 9:30

Sunday, December 3: 12:25, 4:50, 9:55

Monday, December 4: 1:25, 6:30

Tuesday, December 5: 11:00AM, 4:10, 9:20

Wednesday, December 6: 1:25, 6:30

Thursday, December 7: 11:30am, 6:55

FILM TICKETS:

$11 General Admission / $8.50 Students & Seniors / $7.50 Members. Tickets available at box office or online:

Buy Movie Tickets

Only at Digital Gym CINEMA in North Park.

2921 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92104.

(Off 805 Freeway on corner of 30th Street and El Cajon Blvd.)

CINEMA INFO:

info@mediaartscenter.org / 619-230-1938

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