No Sad Songs (1985)
June 15, 1985Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Currently No Sad Songs is available for streaming online, rent, buy or watch for free on: Apple TV, myfilmfriend, Kanopy
Streaming in:🇺🇸 United States
Cast & Crew.
David MacLean
Monologue artist
Martha Cronen
Martha
David Sereda
Organist
David Roche
Fireman
Joe Norman Shaw
Jim
Henry Van Rijk
Preacher
Ian Watson
Young man with AIDS
Allen Booth
Original Music Composer
Nik Sheehan
Director
Nick Sheehan
Director
Sheryl Wright
Production Manager
David Woodhead
Composer
Paul Mitchnick
Cinematographer
Media.
Details.
Wiki.
No Sad Songs is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Nik Sheehan and released in 1985. Billed as the first documentary film about the HIV/AIDS crisis, the film explored the LGBT community's early response to the issue particularly but not exclusively through the personal testimony of Jim Black, a man with AIDS who died several months after the film's release, and Catherine Hunt, the sister of another person with AIDS.Several other community figures, including musician David Sereda and HIV/AIDS activist Jim St. James, also appear in smaller capacities in the film.
The film was produced by Cell Productions in conjunction with the AIDS Committee of Toronto. Through much of the film and in the original promotional poster, Black wore a "Choose Life" T-shirt by artist Katharine Hamnett; however, during the time between the film's production and its release, Christian evangelist Ken Campbell had registered "Choose Life Canada" as the name of an anti-abortion lobby group, and the AIDS Committee faced controversy when it chose to withdraw the posters rather than risk having them misconstrued as an endorsement of Campbell.