APLA Screens Documentary at 'One City One Pride'

On June 12, Los Angeles gets in touch with history with "One City One Pride," an evening looking at the history of HIV/AIDS via a screening of the Academy Award-nominated documentary "How to Survive a Plague."

"We are honored to share such an important film with members of our community, and we are truly grateful that Peter Staley and Garance Franke-Ruta will be joining us at the event," said APLA's Executive Director, Craig E. Thompson. "The event will take place as APLA commemorates our 30th year of service, a time to look back at the groundbreaking work of those who have come before us, and to remind us that there is still so much to be done."

Guests will gather at the Silver Screen Theater in the Pacific Design Center at 6 p.m. for a special reception featuring a historical archive that highlights APLA's 30 years of service. Following this at 7:30 p.m. is the screening of the important film, "How to Survive a Plague," hailed by The New York Times as "a model for the here and now of how social change occurs." It is on the top 10 lists of more than twenty major publications across the nation, earning 12 nominations and seven wins during the 2012/2013 film season, including a nomination for Best Documentary Feature at the 85th Academy Awards.

A post-screening panel will bring together cast members Peter Staley and Garance Franke-Ruta, as well as other local experts to provide a L.A. perspective on past and future of HIV/AIDS activism. The panel will be moderated by City of West Hollywood Council Member John Duran. The event is presented by Collective Effort at the AIDS Project Los Angeles, and sponsored by the City of West Hollywood and the Symphonic Love Foundation.

"How to Survive a Plague" is the story of two coalitions -- ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) -- whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. With unfettered access to a treasure trove of never-before-seen archival footage from the 1980s and '90s, filmmaker and director David France puts the viewer smack in the middle of the controversial actions, the heated meetings, the heartbreaking failures and the exultant breakthroughs of heroes in the making.

Staley is the principal focus of "How to Survive a Plague," having left a successful career on Wall Street to become an AIDS and gay rights activist, first as a member of ACT UP New York, then as the founding director of TAG (Treatment Action Group). Staley also served on the board of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) for 13 years and founded AIDSmeds.com.

Franke-Ruta (ACT UP/ TAG) left high school after two years, and eventually moved to New York in 1988. She pressured pharmaceutical companies to test and market drugs for people with AIDS under a plan she co-founded entitled Countdown 18 Months. Franke-Ruta, a graduate of Harvard University, is the politics editor for The Atlantic Online whose work also appears in Salon, The Washington Monthly, The New Republic, Legal Affairs, National Journal and Utne Reader.

AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), one of the largest non-profit AIDS service organizations in the United States, provides bilingual direct services, prevention education and leadership on HIV/AIDS-related policy and legislation. With 30 years of service, APLA is a community-based, volunteer-supported organization with local, national and global reach.

"One City One Pride," will be held from 6-10 p.m. at the Silver Screen Theater at the Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave. in West Hollywood. Tickets begin at $15. For more information, visit apla.org/screening