Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 1988)
Arts & Entertainment Five movies memorialize victims of AIDS By Joetn Zucco Senior Editor Memorials have been established to recognize the Vietnam veterans, the Holocaust and past presidents. Now it is time to establish a memorial to the victims of AIDS. Frameline and The Names Project have started the remembrance with a tour of The AIDS Film Project — a group of award winning Films and the Names Project Quilt. Marc Heustis and Wendy Dallas, producers of one of the Films, organized the film/quilt tour. Frameline is also loaning out the Films to AIDS projects in cities where the tour isn’t stopping. The only Nebraska showing will be in Omaha ai uic u-mmy vjiuoru v,iuiurcii s Theater, 3504 Center St. Michael Francis, a board member of the Ne braska AIDS Project, said that the theater was the only location that would donate space. Francis said that 30 percent of the proceeds will be redirected back to the film project, while the rest will benefit the Nebraska AIDS Project The series of films started with “ADS Epidemic,” an MTV-like video. ADS is an acronym for Ac quired Dread of Sex. The film’s main message is that sex can be fun and can be safe. The film is very up-front. Two gay men are featured as having fun and being safe. One puts condoms on the other’s fingers, in fun. A man in a white suit, hat and dark glasses por trays the population that has Acquired Dread of Sex. He looks in disgust upon the two and appears oblivious to the fact that “Safe sex is fun.” The second film, “Chuck Solo mon: Coming of Age,” was produced by Huestis and Dallas. Solomon was a San Franciscan theater director who died of AIDS. The film is very moving. It opens and closes at Solomon’s 40th birthday party. Throughout the film, his friends, co-workers and family are interviewed about their relationship with him, what they have learned from him and how he handled the disease. ouiumun s me is rucurueu anu iuiu through scrapbook photos and by his narration. He tells of his first sexual experience, the realization that his brother was gay, and his part in “Crimes of Nature” — a play pro duced in San Francisco in 1977 that “changed the face of gay theater.” The film also gives a new perspec tive to how people react when they’ve been diagnosed. Solomon said that when he was diagnosed he “started feeling better, looking better, sleep ing better and feeling better. I wasn’t afraid of dying, just getting tired.” The third film, “October 11,1987 — The Inaugural Display of the Names Project Quilt” by David Th I ompson follows the day the Names Project Quilt was unfolded and pieced together in Washington Square in Washington D.C. The film was shot in slow motion; the day is overcast and dreary. The tone adds to the emotion of the film. During the film, speakers take turns reading off the names on the quilt. After the quilt is laid out, people start to wander on and around it looking for I John Bruce/Dally Nebraskan the names of loved ones. On Oct. 11,1987, there were 1,920 panels. Francis said that by May 1988 there were 3,900 panels, by July 1988, 10,000 panels. He said that the quilt /will be unveiled again in October 1988 and will be at least five to six times larger than a year ago. “They will continue accepting quilt blocks ‘til the last AIDS death,” Francis said. masseur and his doctor. Each aspect makes life a little more comfortable for the patient, as the masseur points out, “The touching factor is very important. Humans respond to touch and as AIDS patients get nearer to death, the less people touch them.” The fifth film, “Til Death Do Us Part,” by Ginny Durrin, was not avail able for showing at the screening in Lincoln. The AIDS Film Project is an hon est and straight-forward look at the people’s lives AIDS touches. The films arc entertaining to a point but mostly educational. The more people learn about AIDS, the more they will help in combatting the epidemic. The last film, “Living with AIDS,” by Tina DiFeliciantonio was as mov ing as the second, but maybe even t more so to young adults. It is the story of Todd Coleman, a 22-year-old man who dies of AIDS. At 16, Coleman left his home in Colorado. At 21, he was diagnosed as having AIDS. The film opens with a youthful picture of Coleman, then a shot of his bedroom and oxygen machine. He says that he feels like an elderly person; he receives social security and is in bed most of the time because he is so weak. The film shows the numberof help programs for AIDS patients. It fo iKa bnc'm/'n nrr\nrom o 1 Wesleyan’s forum series begins with apartheid critic By Anne Mohri Senior Editor An outspoken critic of South Africa’s apartheid will begin Wesleyan university’s fall forum series SepL 9 with a talk called “Voice From a South African Prison.” Tshenuwani Simon Farisani, dean of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Africa, has been detained without charges or trials four times in the last 10 years by the South African government, said Elaine Kruse, chairperson of the university’s forum committee. Farisani has been forced to remain outside of South Africa since 1987 but has not yet requested exile status, she said. The forum series is free and open to the public. A speaker is scheduled for every Friday at 10 a.m. through Dec. 16 at the McDonald Theatre on the Wesleyan campus. Kruse said an open question/answer hour follows each forum. The schedule includes: Sept 9, “Voice From a South African Prison.” Sept. 16, “The Fictional Vietnam: The Art and Reality of War,” William Holland, author and attorney. Sept. 23, “Sex Bias: From Class room to Boardroom,” Myra and David Sadker, professors of educa tion, American University, Washing ton D.C. Sept. 30, “The Unfolding Constitution,” Warren K. Urbom, U.S. district judge, Lincoln. Oct. 7, “How to Live When Peace and Justice Do Not Embrace,” Stanley Hauerwas, professor of theo logical ethics, Duke University, Dur ham, N.C. Oct. 14,“Readings from ‘Heart of the Garfish,’” Kathy Callaway, assis tant professor of English, Moorhead State University, Minn. Oct. 21, “Censorship in the Public Schools,” Arthur Kropp, People for the American Way, Washington D.C. Oct. 28, ‘The Presidential Prima rathon or Why Political Cartoonists Hate Election Years,” Ed Stein, na tional president of Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colo. Nov. 4, “The Shooting of Jame Brady: The Case for Handgun Con tol,” Sarah Brady, National Spokes person for Handgun Control, Wash ington D.C. Nov. II, “International Studies: Where in the World Are We?” Rose Hayden, vice president of Educa tional Products and Services, JEM Communications, Inc., New York. Nov. 18, “Promises and Problems of Our Successes: Health Care, Medi cal Ethics and the Good Life,” Ruth Purtilo, director of program, and Henry Knox Sherrill, professor of medical ethics, Massachusetts Gen eral Hospital, Boston. Nov. 25, No forum, Thanksgiving recess. Dec. 2, “Reinterpreting the American Dream: The Rise of White Supremacy,” Jack Kay, associate professor of speech communication, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dec. 9, “Percussion Alone,” Gor don Gottlieb, New York. Dec. 16, “Palestine: An Update,” Jafar Jafari, Palestine Congress of North America, Washington D.C. Sheldon Gallery boasts three new variable exhibits , Trevor McArthur Suff Reporter Beginning Sept. 20, visitors of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery will have three new exhibits to peruse. “The Valley Series” will feature paintings and watercolors by Univer sity of Nebraska-Lincoln art profes sor Keith Jacobshagen, created dur ing his 1987-88 sabbatical. During this time, Jacobshagen worked primarily outside in the val leys of the Big Blue, Mo., and Platte Rivers. His work has merited national attention for its grand scale and underlying spirituality. The works in this show were created responding directly to the conditions of the natu ral surroundings of the moment. A brochure about the exhibition will be available which contains an See SHEL on 16 SEE CIRCUS, NEXT PAGE ......... ; v - .‘A*1 ..... r,,,........................ .