Living and loving with HIV: 10 films that take on AIDS

The drama "120 BPM" is the latest film to take on the illness. Directed by Robin Campillo, the movie tells the love story of two young AIDS activists. It won the Grand Prix jury prize at Cannes last year.

Above all, French and American productions took up the subject of HIV and AIDS early on. "Longtime Companion" by Norman René is considered the very first to have described the disease as it tells the stories of eight gay middle-class men who are friends in the early '80s. That's when the illness first appeared and began ravishing the community, the impact of which is at the heart of the film.

The French director and lead actor in "Savage Nights," Cyrill Collard, likewise takes up the topic of repression of AIDS when he brought his autobiographically influenced novel of the same name to life. In the film version, Collard plays a bisexual who does not take his life or that of his partners into consideration. He died in 1993, just one year after its release.

Jonathan Demme's film "Philadelphia" was the first major Hollywood production that brought AIDS to the big screen for a wide audience. In it, Tom Hanks plays a lawyer who is let go from his job due to his illness. He takes his former employer to court in a melodramatic and sentimental film that is very effectively staged. With the Oscar-winning film, AIDS was finally recognized by Hollywood.

Whereas "Philadelphia" was a true Hollywood production, "And the Band Played On," released that same year, took a quieter, nearly documentary approach to the AIDS epidemic. Starring Matthew Modine as the young AIDS researcher Dr. Don Francis, the film by Roger Spottiswoode attempted to tell the tale of those infected by including numerous stories.

Two years later, director Larry Clark put out the teenage drama "Kids," a fictional narrative with a documentary feel. The director highlighted the youth culture in New York in the mid-90s, where sex is on the minds of young boys and girls alike while AIDS lurks in the background. The scenes are drastic and with actors not yet of age, the film created quite a controversy after its release.

What appears to be a standard Pedro Almodóvar film, "All About My Mother," released by the Spanish director in 1999, takes on the lives, loves and sorrows of a handful of protagonists. Set in Madrid and Barcelona, the melodrama addresses gender roles and society's prejudices, with AIDS playing a central role in the film.

"The Witnesses" is French director André Téchiné's look back to the 1980s, when the AIDS crisis first came into focus. The movie follows several characters as it shows the disease and its impact on their lives at all stages. The movie was celebrated at the Berlinale for its handling of the AIDS epidemic but wasn't able to make the leap into German theaters, despite stars like Emmanuelle Béart.

Germany has likewise tackled AIDS as a film subject. Rosa von Praunheim was the first, with his typically anarchistic approach in "A Virus Knows No Morals" in 1986. In 2009, director Detlef Buck took a more worldly view on the global crisis, with "Same Same But Different," which follows the love story between a young German man (David Kross, seen above) and a Cambodia prostitute.

"Dallas Buyers Club" by Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée was widely acclaimed upon its release three years ago. Matthew McConaughey (r.) and Jared Leto are brilliant as two people living with HIV in the 1980s, who are trying to get their hands on the AIDS medications that could prolong their lives. Both actors won nods from the Academy for their roles.