AIDS Comedy 'Pushing Dead' Opens Bailey Hall Film Series

The Bailey Hall Film Series begins its new season with the AIDS comedy "Pushing Dead" on Thursday, September 14 at 7:30 p.m. As part of the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers, director Tom E. Brown will engage the audience in a post-screening discussion about the film and his work.

"This year, we are excited to present the films in the Bailey Hall Jazz Club format that offers a more intimate experience," said Dr. Dan Barnard, Broward College associate dean of cultural affairs and director of Bailey Hall. "The audience will sit on the stage which creates an 'up close and personal' interaction with the filmmaker. We're also offering a complimentary beverage to enjoy during the film to add to the casual lounge atmosphere."

"Pushing Dead," an AIDS comedy, follows Dan, a struggling writer who has been HIV-positive for over 20 years after he deposits a $100 birthday check only to be dropped from his insurance plan for earning too much. Now he must take on the bureaucracy or come up with $3,000 a month to buy his meds. The film features James Roday, of the hit TV series "Psyche," with Danny Glover, Robin Weigert, Khandi Alexander and Tom Riley.

The San Jose Mercury News applauded the film for its "crafty screenwriting and a charismatic cast."

"I started writing the AIDS film that I was craving -- a film without IV bags and skin lesions," said Brown, who was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1985. "I wanted to make a different kind of AIDS movie, a comedy -- in which nobody dies... 'Pushing Dead' is much more than an AIDS flick. It's a picture about how we cope with the bad stuff, our need for support systems, and the hunt for a mate."

Named one of the "25 New Faces of Indie Film" by Filmmaker Magazine, Brown attended the Sundance Institute's Screenwriters and Directors Labs to workshop "Pushing Dead" and was the recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship for this pioneering project.

The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a program of South Arts. Southern Circuit screenings are funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Bailey Hall Film Series continues with "Score" (Oct. 19); "Romeo is Bleeding" (Nov. 2); "DEEJ" (Feb. 15); "Purple Dreams" (March 15); and "Look and See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry" (April 12).

Tickets to "Pushing Dead" are $10 and student and senior discounts are also available.

For tickets or information, call 954-201-6884 or visit www.baileyhall.org