Desert Migration - World AIDS Day Screening at Roxie in S.F.

In honor of World AIDS Day, we are proud to present a special matinee screening of the award winning documentary Desert Migration - the first comprehensive film about gay men who are longterm survivors living with HIV. *** SPECIAL NOTE: San Francisco-based Producer Marc Smolowitz will appear in person for a Q&A following the film. TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X0-AXQ-1Xo ABOUT DESERT MIGRATION | Saved by the introduction of protease inhibitors in the mid-1990s, many HIV positive men needed to rebuild lives they thought they would not live. In an effort to make peace with the virus inside them, some migrated to California’s Palm Springs in the hope of finding a healing desert oasis. But is this environment, with its tolerant population and constant sunshine, enough to heal their shattered bodies and dispel their lingering grief? More than half the people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States are over 50 years of age. Those people, whose lives were saved by antiretroviral therapies, are dealing with a barrage of new problems as their ageing bodies struggle to maintain the upper hand against the virus, accompanied by the many side effects of the treatment itself – insomnia, depression, neuropathy, bone degeneration, kidney failure, cognitive disorders, suicidal ideation… Many also struggle with the symptoms of post-traumatic stress, having lived through a period of decimation and debilitation that remains largely unacknowledged. Desert Migration focuses on gay men living long-term with HIV who sought out an oasis in Southern California’s Palm Springs where both their homosexuality and health condition is not just tolerated, but understood. They represent a huge number of people who migrated to this desert community burdened with memories of watching their friends die, all believing that a similar fate would befall them. Directed by Daniel F. Cardone, 2015 | USA | 81 mins FREE OR DISCOUNTED FOR ROXIE MEMBERS