Choose Life: Edinburgh's Battle Against AIDS, a film by Stephen Bennett
UK AIDS Memorial Quilt display
A screening of Stephen Bennett’s landmark documentary Choose Life: Edinburgh's Battle Against AIDS (2019), introduced by Wendy Cooper (Waverley Care).
The film examines the decade between 1979 and 1989, when Edinburgh was dubbed the "AIDS capital of Europe," meeting the doctors, drug users, police and locals caught up in a frightening new epidemic they could barely understand.
The screening follows a late night exhibition opening for Glasgow Art Weekend.
This event is part of a public programme curated by Steven Grainger to accompany the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt exhibition at Tramway. The exhibition is presented and curated by Tramway.
Audience note
Contains archival material and testimony relating to the AIDS epidemic in 1980s Edinburgh, including intravenous drug use and needle-sharing, bereavement and loss, and depictions of police conduct towards drug users. Some viewers may find 1980s news coverage of the epidemic distressing.
ACCESS
Tramway is fully wheelchair accessible. See more information about venue access on our Access page
Film still courtesy of Stephen Bennett