Research Catalog

This is not an AIDS advertisement

Title
This is not an AIDS advertisement [videorecording] / Sankofa Film and Video Collective ; produced by Isaac Julien.
Publication
New York : Third World Newsreel, 1988.

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Moving imageBy appointment only VTH 2025Offsite

Details

Additional Authors
  • Julien, Isaac.
  • Sankofa Film and Video Collective.
Description
1 videocassette (10 min.) : sd., col.; 1/2 in.
Summary
Shot on super-8 in Venice and London, Julien's two-part meditation on the AIDS crisis reacts against homophobic and racist safe-sex ads. Through a confluence of sound and visuals, it conveys its dominant message: "Feel no shame in your desire." The first part, lyrical in mood, is composed of naturalistic, colorized imagery - ocean, sky, trees - conjoined with the timelessness of ancient monuments. At the nexus, is an interracial gay couple, emblematic of the irrepressibility of homosexual love, who offer te viewer a bouquet of flowers. The second sequence, executed in a more defiant mode, is accompanied by a kind of rap song ("It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance; it's the dream afraid of waking that never learns to chance") and the reiteration of the phrase, "Feel no shame in your desire." This section is characterized by images introduced in the initial segment juxtaposed with new ones. The motif of a blindfolded man removing the obstacle to his sight challenges the viewer's disavowal or condemnation. This part, like the first, concludes with the laughing kiss of the gay lovers.
Subject
  • Homosexuality
  • Homophobia
  • AIDS (Disease)
  • Experimental films
Credits (note)
  • Producer, director, Isaac Julien; photography, Nina Kellgren; editor, Phil Woodward; music, Larry Steinbachek.
Title
This is not an AIDS advertisement [videorecording] / Sankofa Film and Video Collective ; produced by Isaac Julien.
Imprint
New York : Third World Newsreel, 1988.
Credits
Producer, director, Isaac Julien; photography, Nina Kellgren; editor, Phil Woodward; music, Larry Steinbachek.
Performer
Voices: Mark Nash, Isaac Julien.
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Added Author
Julien, Isaac.
Sankofa Film and Video Collective.
Branch Call Number
VTH 2025 T
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