00:19:45|United States|Directed by Sara Laura Schwartz

Gert’s Boys centers on Cindy “Gert” McMullin, an original volunteer and co-founder of The AIDS Memorial Quilt. The Quilt was launched in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood in 1987, the epicenter of the AIDS crisis, as a social action tool to demand a public and government response to AIDS. Today, the Quilt is the world’s largest piece of community folk art with over 50,000 3×6 panels commemorating over 110,000 lives lost to AIDS. Gert, often referred to as Mother of the Quilt, continues to oversee the panels, which she refers to as her ‘boys’, in a warehouse in Oakland, California. Gert’s Boys introduces a unique window into San Francisco’s gay community 1981-1995 through the lens of one woman. The film explores Gert’s experiences caring for four of her boys – David, Roger, Jack and Joey – and becoming an activist in the process.

Grad Students, Talking