David Wojnarowicz Political Funeral July 29, 1992 This was ACT UP's first Political Funeral. Demonstration against the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) in support of Haitian refugees with AIDs begins at 28:42. Shot by James Wentzy. (JW0193)

Made for the cable access television series AIDS Community Television by James Wentzy. "James Wentzy is one of the most prolific of AIDS activist videomakers, having produced over 150 half-hour programs in his series AIDS Community Television. The Ashes Action documents an ACT UP protest in Washington DC in October of 1992. Motivated by the expressed desire of several activists for “their bodies to be used in some sort of political way” after their deaths, ACT UP staged a march to the White House lawn, where they outflanked a group of guards and police and achieved their objective of dumping their loved ones’ ashes directly on the lawn as a protest of White House inaction on AIDS. The event was also motivated by the display that same week of the AIDS Memorial Quilt on the National Mall. In the video, march organizer David Robinson points out that the quilt is “very useful, it’s very important - but it’s very beautiful.” Hence the need for a reminder of everything that was not being done to combat AIDS, and the result of this inaction. By the time of The Ashes Action, many half-hour, TV-formatted activist documentaries had been made by enterprising collectives and individuals, including such classics as Testing the Limits, Doctors, Liars, and Women, and Stop the Church. The Ashes Action stands as one of the very best. The pacing and editing are superb. The video channels the anger that motivated all of ACT UP’s actions, but is also suffused with an elegiac, even autumnal mood.… Most remarkable of all is the repetitive way in which Wentzy shows the climactic moment of the march. This scene appears four different times in the video, and only gains in emotional power each time it is repeated. The footage itself is shot in a way that draws the viewer directly into the action and gets across the full mortality of what we are seeing on screen: when the ACT UP members fling the ashes out of boxes, urns, and plastic bags, through the fence and onto the lawn, we are seeing not only an audacious political protest – we are watching each of them say goodbye to their loved one, and it is devastating. -Andy Ditzler

ACT UP marches to the White House back fence. Angry, determined demonstrators throw the ashes onto the White House lawn and then sit down in defiance of the cops on horseback. Shot by James Wentzy. (JW0195)

Ashes Action White House, Washington DC 10/11/92. Protesters march with the ashes of their loved ones from the Capitol to the White House, where the mourners throw the ashes onto the White House lawn. Shot by James Wentzy. (JW0196)

Ashes Action White House, Washington DC 10/11/92. Protesters march with the ashes of their loved ones from the Capitol to the White House, where the mourners throw the ashes onto the White House lawn. Shot by James Wentzy. (JW1097)

Footage shot by Tony Arena

00:00:08 The AIDS Quilt October 10, 1992

00:20:51 Candlelight March through Washington, DC October 10, 1992

00:37:36 Ashes Action October 11, 1992

01:12:05 ACT UP Meeting Probably October 12, 1992

(TA006)

Political Funeral of Mark Lowe Fisher November 2, 1992 Footage shot by James Wentzy. (NYPL Tape # 1230-B)

Political Funeral of Tim Bailey, Washington, DC July 1, 1993 The plan was to march with Tim’s open coffin to the White House, but DC and park police trapped them in the parking lot, leading to increasing frustration and anger on the part of people from ACT UP. Footage shot by James Wentzy. (NYPL Tape # 01227-A)

Political Funeral of Tim Bailey, Washington, DC July 1, 1993 Footage shot by James Wentzy. (NYPL Tape # 01227-B)

Kiki Mason Political Funeral June 27, 1996 Footage shot by James Wentzy. (JW0105)

Kiki Mason Political Funeral June 27, 1996 Footage shot by James Wentzy. (JW0106)

Aldyn McKean Political Funeral begins at 43:42. Aldyn died February 28, 1994. The 10th International AIDS Conference was held in Yokohama August 7-11. The tape includes various other events from the conference. Footage shot by James Wentzy. (JW0169)