Arthur J. Bressan, Jr.’s low budget masterpiece from 1985 is still as effective and moving as it was 40 years ago.

David (David Schachter) is a 25 years old yuppie who volunteers to be a “Buddy” to an AIDS patient. The LGBTQ community center teams him with Robert (Geoff Edholm), a 32 years old gay gardner from California, with very sharp political views, who had been abandoned by his friends and loved ones.

This is a lyrical cinematic piece for two actors (the rest of the cast is only heard, not seen) of the relationship between a young man who’s got his whole future ahead of him and who becomes best friends with a man who is dying of a then incurable disease. Aided by an elegant and meticulous script the result is rare perfection that is immortalising in a real moment a whole period of LGBTQ history.

“Buddies” is the first feature length film about the AIDS pandemic. It made its international debut on September 12 1985 in the Castro Theatre, with director Bressan and his two actors present. Five days later on September 17 1985 the US president Reagan finally uttered the word AIDS in public for the very first time. Sadly, Brassen himself died of AIDS in 1987 as did his actor Geoff Adholm in 1989. David Schachter still lives in New-York.