Gert’s Boys

Sara Laura Schwartz

2024 / 19 minutes
United States / United States
English

Gert’s Boys centers on Cindy “Gert” McMullin, an original volunteer and co-founder of The AIDS Memorial Quilt. The Quilt was launched in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood in 1987, the epicenter of the AIDS crisis, as a social action tool to demand a public and government response to AIDS. Today, the Quilt is the world’s largest piece of community folk art with over 50,000 3x6 panels commemorating over 110,000 lives lost to AIDS. Gert, often referred to as Mother of the Quilt, continues to oversee the panels, which she refers to as her ‘boys’, in a warehouse in Oakland, California. Gert’s Boys introduces a unique window into San Francisco’s gay community 1981-1995 through the lens of one woman. The film explores Gert’s experiences caring for four of her boys – David, Roger, Jack and Joey – and becoming an activist in the process.