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We Were Here

7.3

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Original title: We Were Here
Year: 2011
Running time: 90 min.
Country: United States
Director: David Weissman
Cast: Documentary
Music: Holcombe Waller
Cinematography: Marsha Kahm
Genre: Documentary | AIDS
Synopsis: In the early 1970s, in the shadow of the Stonewall riots and the free-love movement, gay men and lesbians flocked to San Francisco to find acceptance. They formed a thriving, tight-knit community until the arrival of AIDS in the early 1980s drove them under siege. Director David Weissman (The Cockettes screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival) chronicles this transformative era through the stories of five individuals who lived through the best and the worst of it. In the face of unheralded tragedy, these men and women relate how they were affected and the way their community united to help those suffering and prevent further deaths. Elegiac but inspirational, We Were Here bears witness to the experiences of those who died—and, equally importantly, those who lived—in the earliest years of the AIDS epidemic. Its story is universal, showing the capacity for compassion and strength in all of us, even against unimaginable adversity. (From Sundance.org)

Awards: 2011: Independent Spirit Awards: Nominated for Best Documentary

2011: Sundance Film Festival: nominated to Grand Jury Prize - Documentary U.S..

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Critics' reviews

"Throughout We Were Here there is not a hint of mawkishness, self-pity or self-congratulation. The humility, wisdom and cumulative sorrow expressed lend the film a glow of spirituality and infuse it with grace."

Stephen Holden: The New York Times
"An extraordinarily moving examination of how the AIDS epidemic both devastated and transformed San Francisco's gay community"

Kenneth Turan: Los Angeles Times
"irector David Weissman brings a rewardingly fresh and personal perspective to the subject."

Stephen Farber: The Hollywood Reporter
"A simple, powerful act of bearing witness, We Were Here is a sober reminder of the not-too-distant past, when gays were focused not on honeymoon plans but on keeping people alive."

Melissa Anderson: Village Voice
"'We Were Here' concentrates on the impressive way a collective of disenfranchised individuals came together to support one another in this time of crisis."

Peter Debruge: Variety
"A harrowing, streamlined oral history."

Bill Weber: Slant
"A moving look behind the curtain of a rarely-explored community. (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of five)"

Eve Barlow: Empire
"The most gripping war movie you'll see this year, 'We Were Here' tells first-hand the story of how AIDS attacked San Francisco, killing more than 15,000."

Stephen Cole: The Globe and Mail

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User history

We Were Here

2011

David Weissman

7.3

(89)