MOVIE TRAILERS
Official Trailer for Documentary '5B' About the Very First AIDS Ward
by Alex Billington
May 24, 2019
Source: YouTube
"We have to do something." RYOT has debuted an official trailer for an indie documentary titled 5B, made by filmmakers Paul Haggis & Dan Krauss. This premiered last year at Doc Stories and just stopped by the Cannes Film Festival as a Special Screening. 5B is a reference to the first AIDS ward at a San Francisco hospital that opened in 1983. During the terrifying early days of the AIDS outbreak, a war rages among the nurses, doctors, and staff charged with caring for the infected. The doc features newly-unearthed archival footage. Described in THR's review as "a stirring assembly of first-person oral history and extensive archival footage that honors the pioneering work carried out in that ward, which opened in 1983 at San Francisco General Hospital in direct response to a state of emergency still being widely ignored." This looks powerful.
Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Paul Haggis & Dan Krauss' documentary 5B, direct from YouTube:
5B is the inspirational story of everyday heroes who took extraordinary action to comfort, protect and care for the patients of the first AIDS ward unit in the United States. 5B is stirringly told through first-person testimony of the nurses and caregivers who built Ward 5B at San Francisco General Hospital in 1983, their patients, loved ones, and hospital staff who volunteered to create care practices based in humanity and holistic well-being. The result is an uplifting yet bittersweet monument to a pivotal moment in American history and a celebration of quiet heroes worthy of remembrance and renewed recognition. 5B is co-directed by filmmakers Paul Haggis (his first documentary) & Dan Krauss (of The Kill Team previously). This premiered at Doc Stories last year, and played at the Cannes Film Festival this year. RYOT will release the 5B doc in select theaters starting June 14th coming up. For more, visit the official website.
3 Comments
1
Some people are just there to do those hard things and then they do them...
shiboleth on May 24, 2019
2
A very tough, but important watch.
DAVIDPD on May 24, 2019
3
I was a newly graduated nurse in '84. Lived in Gainesville FL. Myself and one other nurse were the only ones who would care for the 2 HIV/AIDS patients we had on our Med/Surg floor. We only wore masks and gloves, although everyone else was telling us to wear "moon suits", lol. Although neither of us knew much more than what was being 'reported' about HIV/AIDS, our common sense told us only gloves and masks would be best. Not only for us, but for our 2 patients (who GREATLY appreciated our trust in them}. We did a lot of the same things I saw the nurses and doctors doing in the trailer for the documentary. Unfortunately, we didn't have doctors who showed the kind of compassion needed. To be totally honest, the doctors only went into the isolation rooms once. Yes, just ONCE!!! The docs relied on our telling them how our patients were doing and if a medication was/wasn't working. I even came in on my time off just to bathe, massage weakened extremities, read to them and just LISTEN. They both passed away after about 7 months in the hospital. I still have the cards they gave me and the other nurse. Those were some of the most proudest moments of my nursing career. I loved being able to care for them during the time they needed humanity to recognize them.
JMJ on Jun 19, 2019
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