"There is a continuous thread that links the civil rights, antiwar, homosexual rights, and healthcare movements.”
from Kiyoshi Kuromiya speech "Martin Luther King Jr.’s Impact on a Gay, Japanese-American AIDS Activist"
Photo by Peter Lien
Please support KIYOSHI.
KIYOSHI is a feature length documentary film that presents the remarkable life of Kiyoshi Kuromiya – Japanese American author, civil rights, anti-war, gay liberation and HIV/AIDS activist. His story begins in a WWII incarceration camp in Heart Mountain, Wyoming, and intersects with many watershed moments in American history.
Kiyoshi organized for equal access to education, civil rights, HIV drugs and treatment, and the internet. He was well informed and respected by the science community. He reported in layperson terms on the latest developments in AIDS research and shared the information widely through his newsletter, The Critical Path, which was one of the earliest and most comprehensive sources on HIV treatment. He also fought for research that involved the community in its design – particularly people of color, drug users, and women. Kiyoshi went on to fight new laws that limited expression on the internet, participating in the successful lawsuit against the Communications Decency Act.
KIYOSHI will preserve the legacy of this exceptional Philadelphian and explore the lasting impact his life has on our world today. The full-length film combined with community participation and a rigorous screening series is an opportunity to reintroduce his expansive view of social justice and strategy in the context of his full humanity, and present his full, complex story in creative and imaginative ways.
KIYOSHI is produced by Glenn Holsten, Teresa Jaynes, Che Gossett, Rob Buscher, Chris Bartlett and Keith Brand. William Way LGBT Community Center is the institutional partner.
KIYOSHI has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
Photo by Harvey Finkle