Building Centre Film Club: 120 BPM (Beats Per Minute)

One week before World AIDS Day, join us for 120 BPM, with introductions from AIDS activists in Paris and London, beside the future site of L The space immediately outside the Building Centre is set to become the home of London’s permanent AIDS Memorial. One week before World AIDS Day, Building Centre Film Club presents Robin Campillo’s acclaimed 120 BPM (Beats Per Minute), bringing together film, lived experience and the continuing work of remembrance. Set in Paris in the early 1990s, the film follows members of Act Up-Paris as they fight public indifference and demand action from governments and pharmaceutical companies. Moving between meetings, demonstrations, friendship, desire, illness and loss, 120 BPM is a powerful portrait of activism and the communities that emerge when institutions fail to act. Winner of the Grand Prix at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, the film moves between the collective and the deeply personal, capturing both the urgency of political organising and the lives lived alongside it. Before the film, we’ll hear from Christophe Martet, a longtime AIDS activist, journalist and author who joined Act Up-Paris in 1990. Christophe is now president of Vers Paris sans sida, the city’s Fast-Track Cities programme working towards ending AIDS in Paris. He is the author of Les Combattants du Sida, about AIDS activists in France, and co-director of the documentary Nous Sommes Éternels, which explores the history of the AIDS Quilt in France. Christophe has been living with HIV since 1984. We will also be joined by Andria Efthimiou-Mordaunt. Andria is a long-standing activist and an original member of ACT UP London, with decades of experience campaigning around HIV/AIDS, drug policy and the rights of marginalised communities. She continues to be involved in political and environmental activism and sits on AIDS Memory UK’s Affected Communities Advisory Board, helping shape the forthcoming AIDS Memorial in London. AIDS Memory UK is creating The AIDS Memorial in London, which will be located on South Crescent immediately outside the Building Centre, creating a new public space for remembrance, gathering and reflection. Taking place exactly one week before World AIDS Day on 1 December, the evening brings together film, activism and memory, asking how histories of collective action are remembered and how they continue to shape our cities and public spaces today. Free popcorn will be available for everyone attending the screening. 120 BPM (Beats Per Minute) Dir. Robin Campillo, 2017 France | 140 mins