Buddies

When timid 25-year-old New Yorker David (David Schachter) volunteers to be a “buddy” to an AIDS patient, the community center assigns him to Robert (Geoff Edholm), a 32-year-old gay activist from California who has been abandoned by his friends and lovers. With each subsequent visit to his hospital room, the growing bond between the two men unfolds as Robert recalls his life as a handsome, confident and pioneering gay activist to David, who records his thoughts about their visits in a journal. This early queer cinema classic, the first dramatic feature film about AIDS, has long been unavailable and will be shown in a new digital restoration. Reeling’s connection to BUDDIES couldn’t be more personal: it played on opening night of the festival in 1985 to a sold-out crowd at the Music Box with director Bressan in attendance. This screening is co-presented by TPAN.

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