Political Art and the Public Sphere to screen RED RED RED, a film exploring the politics of AIDS

WHAT: The Political Art and the Public Sphere (PAPS) series at the University of Illinois Springfield presents a screening of the documentary RED RED RED. The film by David Oscar Harvey focuses on a law in Iowa that severely limits the liberties of people with HIV. Following the screening, Harvey will take questions from the audience during a group discussion.

WHEN: Monday, October 22, 2012 at 6 p.m.

WHERE: Brookens Auditorium on the lower level of Brookens Library at UIS

DETAILS: RED RED RED is a personal and political film that considers big questions about the contemporary state of queer politics and the dimensions of identity for HIV-positive persons. The film has screened at numerous film festival internationally.

Harvey is a filmmaker and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Iowa in the Department of Cinema and Comparative Literature. He is also an educator, activist, artist and scholar regarding issues surrounding HIV/AIDS. His academic writing on HIV/AIDS has been published in a variety of journals.

The PAPS series is a monthly event on the UIS campus hosted by Dr. Richard Gilman-Opalsky, associate professor of Political Philosophy. This fall, Dr. Michael J. Murphy, assistant professor of Women and Gender Studies at UIS will co-host and moderate each PAPS event.

This semester, PAPS marks the 30th anniversary of the discovery and naming of the HIV virus (1982-2012). The fall series is dedicated to raising social, cultural, and political questions related to HIV, particularly how the disease has been treated as an affliction of a “despised sexuality,” as well as how different communities have been impacted by and have addressed the problem. All events are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Dr. Gilman-Opalsky at 217/206-8328 or email rgilm3@uis.edu.