In the early 1980s when the number of AIDS cases in America began to soar, many organizations with the resources to help turned a blind eye to the epidemic. Enter ACT UP, a group of activists who felt they’d been backed into a corner by society’s complacent attitudes. Many of ACT UP’s members were HIV-positive and saw this unifying political action as their only hope of survival. In a two-pronged attack strategy, the group sought to raise awareness through high-profile protests, while simultaneously infiltrating the scientific community to help steer research toward a manageable cure. This film recounts their epic journey almost entirely through the use of archival footage, providing a firsthand account of the heated meetings and desperate emotions that would eventually fracture the group but at the time were instrumental in finding a cure. How to Survive a Plague is a gripping historical account of the movement culled from hundreds of hours of existing footage. The result is a beautiful testament to those who never gave up the fight for change.  RM