To mark World AIDS Day, GCN contributor David Ferguson drew up a list of films on HIV and AIDS. Since it’s a worldwide event, he included films from across the world, highlighting different ways in which HIV and AIDS impact people’s lives and exploring the struggles people faced in the past and still face today.

Blue (UK, 1993)
Directed by Derek Jarman, Blue is his final film. By the time he was making the film, he was partially blind and only able to see in shades of blue due to AIDS-related complications. The film features a single, unchanging shot of the colour blue and is accompanied by a soundtrack of poetic narration, music, and sound effects that explore the director’s confrontation with AIDS-related blindness and mortality. Jarman died four months after the film was released.

Philadelphia (United States, 1993)
Philadelphia tells the story of attorney Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks), who asks personal injury attorney Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) to help him sue his former law firm for firing him after discovering he was gay and that he had contracted AIDS. The film is one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to explicitly address HIV/AIDS and homophobia. It is also one of the first to portray gay people in a positive light.

All About My Mother (Spain, 1999)
When single mother Manuela (Cecilia Roth) loses her teenage son, she embarks on a journey to Barcelona to find the boy’s other parent, Lola (Toni Cantó), who is trans. Along the way, she reconnects with old friends and meets new ones, including Agrado (Antonia San Juan), a warm and humorous transgender woman, Rosa (Penélope Cruz), a young nun who is pregnant and HIV Positive, and an actress her son admired. Written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, the film won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Yesterday (South Africa, 2004)
Yesterday (Leleti Khumalo) is a young mother who discovers she has AIDS. Left alone after her husband rejected her, she makes it her mission to live long enough to see her daughter, Beauty, go to school. The film is the first commercial feature-length production in Zulu and was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Phir Milenge (India, 2004)
Inspired by Philadelphia, this movie tells a similar story. Tamanna Sahni (Shilpa Shetty), a successful advertising professional, is diagnosed with HIV after a one-night encounter with her college sweetheart, Rohit (Salman Khan). When she loses her job because of this, she files a legal case against her former employers, aided by young lawyer Tarun Anand (Abhishek Bachchan). The film addresses the social stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS in India and is one of the earliest mainstream Hindi films to tackle the subject.

A Year Without Love (Argentina, 2005)
Adapting Pablo Pérez’s autobiographical novel of the same name, the film follows a writer named Pablo (Juan Minujín), who is dealing with AIDS. Pablo places ads in a gay magazine looking for love and finds himself involved in the secretive world of Buenos Aires’s gay leather scene. The film has garnered a number of awards, including the Teddy Bear prize for the Best Gay Film at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival.

Holding The Man (Australia, 2015)
Based on a true story, the film details the 15-year relationship between Tim Conigrave (Ryan Corr) and John Caleo (Craig Scott), from their teenage romance through to their struggles with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It is adapted from Tim Conigrave’s 1995 memoir, which he completed shortly before he died. A documentary based on the lives of Tim Conigrave and John Caleo, Remembering the Man, was also released in 2015.

BPM (Beats per Minute) (France, 2017)
BPM depicts the confrontational tactics of the group ACT UP Paris as they fight public indifference and pressure pharmaceutical companies for research and treatment. It also includes a personal love story between two of the activists, Sean (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) and Nathan (Arnaud Valois). The film was the screen debut of Félix Maritaud, who plays an activist named Max. Director Robin Campillo, who co-wrote the screenplay, describes himself as “an ACT UP militant in the ’90s.”

Three Months (United States, 2022)
This comedy-drama tells the story of Caleb Kahn (Troye Sivan), a South Florida boy who realises he has been exposed to HIV on the eve of his high school graduation. Due to the time it is set in, he has to wait three months for the definitive results. During this time, Caleb forms a bond with Estha (Viveik Kalra), a Hindi boy he meets at support meetings.

How To Tell A Secret (Ireland, 2022)
How To Tell A Secret uses documentary, performance and genre-blurring storytelling techniques to show people what it is like to live with HIV in Ireland. Robbie Lawlor was diagnosed with HIV at 21 and became one of the youngest people to come out on Irish television. Enda McGrattan, also known as Veda, promised to keep their HIV status a secret but eventually broke free with a song. In the film, a group of Irish and migrant women, who cannot show their faces, found creative ways to have their voices heard. The film also includes a dramatic tribute to Thom McGinty, aka The Diceman.

Out of Shadows (Ireland, 2025)
Directed by filmmaker Pradeep Mahadeshwar, Out of Shadows is a powerful short documentary spotlighting the experiences of immigrants living with HIV in Ireland, bringing important, underrepresented stories to the forefront. Shot against the scenic backdrops of Wicklow, the Dublin Mountains, and Dublin city, the film follows the lives of Luis Noguera Benitez from Venezuela, Jordi Moya Roset from Barcelona, and Prateek Bhardwaj from northern India. The film is a celebration of resilience, solidarity, and the enduring human capacity to embrace life and love beyond stigma.