We Were Here

The AIDS Years in San Francisco

An intimate, yet epic history of the AIDS years in San Francisco, as told through the stories of five longtime San Franciscans. The film documents the coming of what was called the "Gay Plague" in the early 1980s. It illuminates the profound personal and community issues raised by the AIDS epidemic as well as the broad political and social upheavals it unleashed. WE WERE HERE offers a cathartic validation for the generation that suffered through, and responded to, the onset of AIDS. It opens a window of understanding to those who have only the vaguest notions of what transpired in those years and provides insight into what society could, and should, offer its citizens in the way of medical care, social services, and community support.

"Of all the cinematic explorations of the AIDS crisis, not one is more heartbreaking and inspiring than WE WERE HERE... The humility, wisdom and cumulative sorrow expressed lend the film a glow of spirituality and infuse it with grace... ONE OF THE TOP TEN FILMS OF THE YEAR." - Stephen Holden, New York Times

"An extraordinarily moving examination of how the AIDS epidemic both devastated and transformed San Francisco's gay community, this clear-eyed and soulful documentary brings us inside the contagion in a way that is so intimate, so personal, you feel like you're hearing about these catastrophic events for the first time." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

2013 Emmy Nomination for Outstanding History Documentary

2011 Independent Spirit Award Nomination for Best Documentary***