Bay Area Filmmaker Begins Documentary About National AIDS Memorial -- Launches National Search For Personal Stories

Bay Area filmmaker, Andy Abrahams Wilson, is currently working on a documentary film about the National AIDS Memorial, located in San Franciscos Golden Gate Park, the only federally designated memorial hononring all lives touched by AIDS. The filmmaker is now seeking compelling personal testimonies and subjects for the film.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) September 10, 2004 -- Award-winning, Emmy-nominated, Bay Area filmmaker, Andy Abrahams Wilson (www.openeyepictures.com), is currently working on a documentary film about the National AIDS Memorial, located in San Franciscos Golden Gate Park. The filmmaker is now seeking compelling personal testimonies and subjects for the film: Stories showing the impact of AIDS and the importance of memorial; Stories showing how the National AIDS Memorial has been meaningful to people with AIDS and their loved ones; Unfolding stories now or soon to be taking place in the National AIDS Memorial.

Work to create this living memorial began in 1991 as a local landscape restoration project, spearheaded by a small group of San Francisco residents who were looking for a positive way to channel their grief and remember their loved ones lost to AIDS.

In 1996, the magnificently restored 7.5-acres, known locally as the Grove, was officially designated by the U.S. Congress and President Clinton as a national memorial site, a designation like that of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The Grove is the only federally designated memorial honoring all whose lives have been touched by AIDS.

Although this national memorial has become well known in the Bay Area, and is visited by tens of thousands of people annually, particularly on the third Saturday of each month from March through October when dozens of volunteers gather there for volunteer Workdays, there are still millions of people who are unaware that this country has a national AIDS memorial.

Over 70% of our supporters live in California, with 42% of them in San Francisco alone," said Rick Pavich, executive director of the National AIDS Memorial. That means that this amazingly beautiful and powerful memorial is virtually unknown outside the Bay Area. The Grove was created to honor all live touched by AIDS. As its stewards, we have an obligation to make the Grove more widely known so that anyone who has been impacted by AIDS may benefit from the healing power of this living memorial."

Film co-producer and Grove board member Michael Weiss sees the documentary as a unique opportunity to capture the spirit, the emotion, the soulful qualities of the memorial for audiences all over the country. The National AIDS Memorial cant be described. You need to experience it to really understand it. Seeing this film will be the next best thing to being there."

If you have a compelling story to share about how AIDS has affected your life, and how you might find personal benefit from a national memorial honoring those lost to the pandemic and those who continue the struggle against it, please write a summary of your story, using 500 words or less, and send it by mail to National AIDS Memorial Film Project, c/o Open Eye Pictures, 475 Gate 5, Sausalito, CA 94965; by email to aidsmemorial@openeyepictures.com; or by fax to 415-332-3256. Summaries should be received before October 1, 2004, to be considered for inclusion in the documentary, but personal stories will continue to be collected as they arrive.

For more information abut the National AIDS Memorial Grove, call 415-750-8340, or you may visit the Groves website at www.aidsmemorial.org

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