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Clip description
This clip features William Yang’s monologue about discovering his friend Allan has AIDS. Yang tells Allan’s story through photographic portraits of Allan as his succumbs to the disease.
Curator’s notes
This scene is our entry into the film and it is confronting both stylistically and in its content. Yang’s deadpan delivery, as he stares straight into the camera at us, is direct and to the point. He tells us about his friend Allan and how AIDS finally took his life. It is a personal story that, through the telling, lays bare the horror of the AIDS epidemic and the toll it has taken on a community.
The tone of the film is set by this scene and it is compelling to watch it unfold. We are allowed into a private world of death and dying through the photographer’s intimate relationship with his subject. We know we are about to go on a journey that may take us to more sadness and loss but Yang’s very particular storytelling method gives us the confidence to go with him. In this sequence the filmmakers have honoured the strength of Yang’s storytelling as it was originally performed on stage.
