| Silence = Death | |
| Director: | Rosa von Praunheim |
| Producer: | Rosa von Praunheim Michael Lupetin |
| Screenplay: | Rosa von Praunheim |
| Starring: | Allen Ginsberg Keith Haring David Wojnarowicz Paul Smith Rafael Gamba Peter Kunz Don Moffett Bern Boyle Emilio Cubeiro |
| Cinematography: | Mike Kuchar |
| Editing: | Rosa von Praunheim Mike Shephard |
| Studio: | Rosa Von Praunheim Filmproduktion |
| Distributor: | First Run Features |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Country: | United States West Germany |
| Language: | English |
Silence = Death is a 1990 documentary film directed, written, and produced by Rosa von Praunheim (in cooperation with Phil Zwickler). The film received international resonance.[1] [2]
The film centers on the responses of gay artists in New York City to the AIDS crisis. The film's protagonists include David Wojnarowicz, Rafael Gamba, Paul Smith, Peter Kunz, Allen Ginsberg, Don Moffett, Bern Boyle, Keith Haring and Emilio Cubeiro.[3]
Silence = Death is the second part of Rosa von Praunheim's AIDS-Trilogy.
The Guardian wrote in 1992: "Silence = Death and Positive: The best AIDS films to date."[5] The Los Angeles Times wrote: "In short, Praunheim is just the man for the job he has taken on with Silence = Death and Positive: he has the breadth of vision, the compassion and the militance and, yes, the sense of humor necessary to tackle the AIDS epidemic in all its aspects."[6] Critic Jerry Tallmer, founder of the Obie Award, wrote: "Rosa (originally Holger) von Praunheim, the brilliant, acerbic director of such breakthrough gay-revolutionist works as Silence & Death and A Virus Knows No Morals."[7]