R (for strong sexual content including graphic dialogue and images, and for language)
Genre:
Documentary
Release Date:
August 15, 2008
Running time:
75 minutes
Cast:
Richard Berkowitz, Don Adler, Susan Brown, Demetre Daskalakis, Richard Dworkin
Director:
Daryl Wein
Producer:
Daryl Wein, David Oliver Cohen
Distributor:
Regent Releasing/here! Films
Description: "Sex Positive" explores the life of Richard Berkowitz, a revolutionary gay S&M- hustler-turned-AIDS activist in the 1980s, whose incomparable contribution to the invention of safe sex has never been aptly credited. Berkowitz emerged from the epicenter of the epidemic as a community leader, demanding a solution to the problem before anyone else would pay attention. However, it was not Berkowitz' voice alone that sparked contention. Dr. Joseph Sonnabend, a controversial virologist and AIDS doctor, postulated that AIDS was more complicated than just a new virus. With Sonnabend's theory in tow, Berkowitz fought, alongside beloved activist and musician Michael Callen, for safer sex practices without giving up on sex altogether. "Sex Positive" explores the explicit bravery of this unrecognized triumvirate, and their dire quest to save lives in the midst of unwavering dissent. Now destitute and alone, Mr. Berkowitz bestows graphic testimony of sex, death and betrayal, while placing the invention of "safe sex" in a fresh and compelling context.
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