Documentary filmmaker Jeffrey Schwarz is committed to projects that explore our history, as in “Vito,” about “Celluloid Closet” author Vito Russo, and “I Am Divine,” about the “Hairspray” and “Female Trouble” drag superstar. His latest, “Commitment to Life,” steps back to the early 1980s and the birth of AIDS Project Los Angeles as the queer community in Southern California found itself blindsided by the arrival of HIV and AIDS. Deeply researched and filled with archival footage, interviews with survivors and activists, with a look at everyday people who kept the organization moving, as well as the big names who died, like Rock Hudson, or fought back, like Elizabeth Taylor, it’s an intense look at a harrowing period of U.S. queer history, and the power of people uniting to save each other’s lives. Keep this vital project on your radar, and when it hits arthouses or streaming platforms, show it to a young queer friend.
