Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt

1989
1h 19m

IMDb RATING

8.1/10

1.2K

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Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989)

On this IMDbrief, we'll download the history of the first movies to raise our collective awareness of HIV/AIDS.

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Watch How Movies and TV Shaped Our Perception of HIV/AIDS

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Biography Documentary History

A collection of profiles of people dead from AIDS who are remembered in the AIDS Memorial Quilt.A collection of profiles of people dead from AIDS who are remembered in the AIDS Memorial Quilt.A collection of profiles of people dead from AIDS who are remembered in the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Directors
- Rob Epstein
- Jeffrey Friedman
Writers
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.1/10

1.2K

YOUR RATING

Directors
- Rob Epstein
- Jeffrey Friedman
Writers
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Oscar
- 5 wins total

Videos1

Clip 4:54

How Movies and TV Shaped Our Perception of HIV/AIDS

Photos3

Top cast55

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Sara Lewinstein

Storyteller (story subject: Dr. Tom Waddell)

David Mandell

Storyteller (story subject: David Mandell Jr.)

Suzi Mandell

Storyteller (story subject: David Mandell Jr.)

Sallie Perryman

Storyteller (story subject: Robert Perryman)

Vito Russo

Storyteller (story subject: Jeffrey Sevcik)

Tracy Torrey

Storyteller (story subject: himself and David C. Campbell)

Gregg Baker

Self - News Reporter
(archive footage)

Gary Bauer

Self - Policy Advisor to the President
(archive footage)

Robert Bazell

Self - News Reporter
(archive footage)

Kevin Boyle

Self - News Reporter
(archive footage)

Edward Brandt

Self - Assistant Secretary for Health
(archive footage)

Tom Brokaw

Self - News Reporter
(archive footage)

Bobbi Campbell

Self
(archive footage)

David C. Campbell

Self
(archive footage)

Marcus A. Conant

Self
(archive footage)
(as Marcus A. Conant M.D.)

James Curran

Self - Center for Disease Control
(archive footage)
(as James Curran M.D.)

Bolton Eckert

Self - News Reporter
(archive footage)
(as Barton Eckert)

Jerry Falwell

Self - Moral Majority Leader
(archive footage)

Directors
- Rob Epstein
- Jeffrey Friedman
Writers
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The documentary was the first project of Dolly Parton and Sandy Gallin's Sandollar Productions not to feature Parton (having previously produced her A Smoky Mountain Christmas (1986) and Dolly (1987)). Subsequent projects from their company included Steve Martin's Le père de la mariée (1991), Le père de la mariée II (1995), and Father of the Bride Part 3 (ish) (2020) trilogy, Une lueur dans la nuit (1992), Sabrina (1995), L'amour en équation (1994), and Buffy, tueuse de vampires (1992).

Quotes
Narrator: It took Rock Hudson's death to capture America's attention. By that time, AIDS had already killed 15 thousand of other Americans. Rock Hudson is the most famous name in the giant quilt, a memorial to ten thousand names of men, women and children who came along very different roads to the same fate.

Connections
Featured in 62nd Annual Academy Awards (1990)

Soundtracks
Common Threads
Written and Performed by Bobby McFerrin

User reviews12

Featured review

10/10

Moving

Winning the 1990 Oscar for Best Documentary, this originally aired on HBO. Watching After Stonewall reminded me of this documentary, and even just seeing the Quilt on THAT program made me tear up - simply from the memory of this documentary.

As a documentary, it's not very impressive - it's pretty rote and basic. However, in 1990, AIDS was still a strong fear - remember, the next year Bruce Davison was nominated for Longtime Companion - but the Bobby McFerrin music and the visuals affected me, in the same way that the Vietnam War Memorial scene from In Country.

This is a must-see documentary.