Movies About HIV/AIDS
by brijeshmarand | created - 09 Oct 2020 | updated - 04 Dec 2022 | PublicWorld AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic.
Which movie do you think deals with the subject most delicately?
Discuss the poll here
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1. Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
R | 117 min | Biography, Drama
In 1985 Dallas, electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is diagnosed with the disease.
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto, Steve Zahn
Votes: 519,409 | Gross: $27.30M
2. Philadelphia (1993)
PG-13 | 125 min | Drama
When a man with HIV is fired by his law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.
Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Roberta Maxwell, Buzz Kilman
Votes: 258,142 | Gross: $77.32M
3. The Normal Heart (2014 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 132 min | Biography, Drama, History
In the early 1980s, the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York led to an emergence of homosexual activists. With support from the medical community, they try to raise awareness about the disease.
Director: Ryan Murphy | Stars: Mark Ruffalo, Jonathan Groff, Frank De Julio, William DeMeritt
Votes: 37,796
4. The Hours (2002)
PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Romance
The story of how the novel "Mrs. Dalloway" affects three generations of women, all of whom, in one way or another, have had to deal with suicide in their lives.
Director: Stephen Daldry | Stars: Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane
Votes: 138,530 | Gross: $41.68M
5. Precious (II) (2009)
R | 110 min | Drama
In New York City's Harlem circa 1987, an overweight, abused, illiterate teen who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that she can re-route her life in a better direction.
Director: Lee Daniels | Stars: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey
Votes: 116,261 | Gross: $47.57M
6. Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
PG-13 | 134 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The story of the legendary British rock band Queen and lead singer Freddie Mercury, leading up to their famous performance at Live Aid (1985).
Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy
Votes: 593,034 | Gross: $216.43M
7. Kids (1995)
Unrated | 91 min | Drama
A day in the life of a group of teens as they travel around New York City skating, drinking, smoking and deflowering virgins.
Director: Larry Clark | Stars: Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, Chloë Sevigny, Sarah Henderson
Votes: 84,666 | Gross: $7.42M
8. An Early Frost (1985 TV Movie)
95 min | Drama
A young lawyer hasn't told his parents about his homosexuality. Now he must tell them--at a time when the diagnosis was still a death sentence--that he has AIDS.
Director: John Erman | Stars: Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, Sylvia Sidney, Aidan Quinn
Votes: 2,220
9. And the Band Played On (1993 TV Movie)
PG | 141 min | Drama, History
The story of the discovery of the AIDS epidemic, and the political infighting of the scientific community hampering the early fight with it.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Matthew Modine, Alan Alda, Patrick Bauchau, Nathalie Baye
Votes: 11,009
10. Longtime Companion (1989)
R | 96 min | Drama, Romance
The emergence and devastation of the AIDS epidemic is chronicled in the lives of several gay men living during the 1980s.
Director: Norman René | Stars: Stephen Caffrey, Patrick Cassidy, Brian Cousins, Bruce Davison
Votes: 6,133 | Gross: $4.61M
11. 120 BPM (2017)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama
Members of the advocacy group ACT UP Paris demand action by the government and pharmaceutical companies to combat the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s.
Director: Robin Campillo | Stars: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adèle Haenel, Antoine Reinartz
Votes: 16,744 | Gross: $0.13M
12. How to Survive a Plague (2012)
Not Rated | 110 min | Documentary, History, News
The story of two coalitions -- ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) -- whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition.
Director: David France | Stars: Peter Staley, Larry Kramer, Iris Long, Bob Rafsky
Votes: 4,357 | Gross: $0.13M
13. Holding the Man (2015)
Unrated | 127 min | Biography, Drama, History
The warm, funny and achingly sad story of the 15-year-long love affair between Timothy Conigrave and the boy he fell in love with at high school, John Caleo.
Director: Neil Armfield | Stars: Ryan Corr, Sarah Snook, Francesco Ferdinandi, Craig Stott
Votes: 13,388
14. Rent (2005)
PG-13 | 135 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
In New York City's gritty East Village, a group of bohemians strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness and the AIDS epidemic.
Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Taye Diggs, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Rosario Dawson, Anthony Rapp
Votes: 55,927 | Gross: $29.08M
15. The Cure (1995)
PG-13 | 97 min | Adventure, Drama
Erik, a loner, finds a friend in Dexter, an eleven-year-old boy with AIDS. They vow to find a cure for AIDS together and save Dexter's life in an eventful summer.
Director: Peter Horton | Stars: Joseph Mazzello, Brad Renfro, Aeryk Egan, Delphine French
Votes: 10,679 | Gross: $2.57M
16. Boys on the Side (1995)
R | 115 min | Comedy, Drama
Robin shares a ride in her car with Jane from New York to Los Angeles. They stop at Jane's friend Holly's place in Pittsburgh and take her with them west, making a long stop in Tucson. The three very different women become close friends.
Director: Herbert Ross | Stars: Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker, Drew Barrymore, Matthew McConaughey
Votes: 14,151 | Gross: $23.45M
17. Parting Glances (1986)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Music, Romance
As Michael and Robert, a gay couple in New York, prepare for Robert's departure for a two-year work assignment in Africa, Michael must face Robert's true motives for leaving while dealing ... See full summary »
Director: Bill Sherwood | Stars: John Bolger, Richard Ganoung, Steve Buscemi, Adam Nathan
Votes: 3,236 | Gross: $0.54M
18. Tongues Untied (1989)
Not Rated | 55 min | Documentary
A documentary about the experiences of black homosexual men living in the United States of America.
Director: Marlon Riggs | Stars: Marlon Riggs, Michael Bell, Kerrigan Black, Blackberri
Votes: 1,851
19. The Living End (1992)
Unrated | 81 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Luke is a gay hustler. Jon is a movie critic. Both are HIV positive. They go on a hedonistic, dangerous journey, their motto "Fuck the world".
Director: Gregg Araki | Stars: Mike Dytri, Craig Gilmore, Mark Finch, Mary Woronov
Votes: 3,719 | Gross: $0.69M
20. Zero Patience (1993)
101 min | Musical
An immortal, bigoted, unethical taxidermist is doing research on "Patient Zero", the gay flight attendant who allegedly was the first to bring AIDS to North America, for a museum show about contagious diseases, helped by the man's ghost.
Director: John Greyson | Stars: John Robinson, Normand Fauteux, Dianne Heatherington, Richardo Keens-Douglas
Votes: 744 | Gross: $0.22M
21. Jeffrey (1995)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Drama
A poignant romantic comedy about the quest for love and intimacy in the age of AIDS. A story of a thirtyish gay actor/waiter who decides to become celibate...the risk of AIDS has taken all the joy from sex.
Director: Christopher Ashley | Stars: Steven Weber, Michael T. Weiss, Peter Jacobson, Tom Cayler
Votes: 6,771 | Gross: $3.49M
22. It's My Party (1996)
R | 110 min | Drama, Romance
Nick "Eric Roberts", is nearing the end of a 3-year battle with AIDS and makes arrangements to die. He hosts a party to say goodbye to friends and family. His ex-partner, Brandon "Gregory Harrison", attends and things get complicated.
Director: Randal Kleiser | Stars: Eric Roberts, Gregory Harrison, Margaret Cho, Bruce Davison
Votes: 3,220 | Gross: $0.62M
23. Life Support (2007 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 87 min | Drama
The true-life story of a mother who overcame an addiction to crack and became a positive role model and an AIDS activist in the black community.
Director: Nelson George | Stars: Queen Latifah, Vianca Mercedes, Anna Deavere Smith, Wendell Pierce
Votes: 1,322
24. The Witnesses (2007)
Not Rated | 112 min | Drama, Romance
Paris, 1984: A group of friends contend with the first outbreak of the AIDS epidemic.
Director: André Téchiné | Stars: Michel Blanc, Emmanuelle Béart, Sami Bouajila, Julie Depardieu
Votes: 2,843 | Gross: $0.08M
25. The Companion (2015)
TV-MA | 104 min | Drama
A disgraced boxer gradually forms an unlikely friendship with an HIV positive patient he is tasked with monitoring at a military-run sanitarium in 1980s Cuba.
Director: Pavel Giroud | Stars: Camila Arteche, Armando Miguel Gómez, Broselianda Hernández, Yotuel Romero
Votes: 292
26. Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo (2016)
Unrated | 97 min | Drama, Romance
Two men meet in a sex club, become entangled in a passionate embrace, and spend the night getting to know each other. As they wander through the empty streets of Paris, they must confront the feelings that are growing between them.
Directors: Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau | Stars: Mario Fanfani, Geoffrey Couët, François Nambot, Bastien Gabriel
Votes: 3,905
27. Yesterday (I) (2004)
R | 90 min | Drama
After falling ill, Yesterday learns that she is HIV positive. With her husband in denial and young daughter to tend to, Yesterday's one goal is to live long enough to see her child go to school.
Director: Darrell Roodt | Stars: Leleti Khumalo, Lihle Mvelase, Pepi Khambule, Harriet Lenabe
Votes: 2,482
28. Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989)
79 min | Documentary, Biography, History
A collection of profiles of people dead from AIDS who are remembered in the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman | Stars: Sara Lewinstein, David Mandell, Suzi Mandell, Sallie Perryman
Votes: 1,083
29. 1985 (2018)
85 min | Drama
A closeted young man goes home for the holidays and struggles to reveal his dire circumstances to his conservative family.
Director: Yen Tan | Stars: Cory Michael Smith, Virginia Madsen, Michael Chiklis, Jamie Chung
Votes: 2,519
30. Silverlake Life: The View from Here (1993)
99 min | Documentary
A documentary about two gay men as they live through their last months of life with AIDS.
Directors: Peter Friedman, Tom Joslin | Stars: Liane Bonin, Tom Joslin, Mark Massi
Votes: 523
31. Pedro (2008)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama
In 1994 Pedro Zamora was the first HIV-positive gay man to appear in a reality show on MTV. The audience of 'The Real World: San Francisco' identified easily with this intelligent, ... See full summary »
Director: Nick Oceano | Stars: Alex Loynaz, Justina Machado, Hale Appleman, DaJuan Johnson
Votes: 540
32. Angels in America (2003)
TV-MA | 59 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Several disparate but connected individuals go through the AIDS crisis in the mid-1980s.
Stars: Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, Mary-Louise Parker
Votes: 29,800
It is not a movie, but still worthy of inclusion.
33. In the Gloaming (1997 TV Movie)
PG | 67 min | Drama
A loving mother, a son in search of peace, four people separated by more than miles. Now, in the twilight of their time together, reconciliation finally begins for a family who never really knew each other until it was almost too late.
Director: Christopher Reeve | Stars: Glenn Close, Bridget Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert Sean Leonard
Votes: 1,466
34. Aruvi (2016)
Not Rated | 130 min | Drama
A gentle girl born and brought up amidst the ever growing eco-social-consumeristic environment finds it difficult to fit in the society. She decides to take it hard on the people. What she does is the rest of the story.
Director: Arun Prabhu Purushothaman | Stars: Aditi Balan, Padmashri Mohammad Ali, Pradeep Anthony, Arnold
Votes: 14,330
Added on December 4, 2022
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