Picture of the movie 5B © 5B Verizon Media
Dan Krauss tells the story of “ordinary heroes” in 5B
The American director Dan Krauss, whose documentaries Extremis (2017) and The Death of Kevin Carter (2005) were nominated for best short documentary Oscars, returns this year with 5B, a new documentary based on a little-known true story.
Dan Krauss has made his second documentary set in the hospital sector (after Extremis in 2017). The story began in 1983 when the nurses and staff at the San Francisco General Hospital in California, decided to create "Ward 5B" – a department specially dedicated to treating the first AIDS patients. It was a true act of courage and a challenge at a time when the disease, dubbed "the gay cancer" by some, was still relatively unknown and surrounded by fear and taboos.
5B is the result of several years of interviews and testimonies gathered from nurses and hospital staff, but also from former patients and their loved ones. And 35 years later, like a homage, the director shares the inspiring daily life on "Ward 5B", chronicling its story on screen. The staff and nurses believe that listening and caring lie at the heart of hospital life and sets out to show that caring for patients can go way beyond the mere treatment of symptoms. These HIV-positive patients, often stigmatised and rejected, were able to experience humanity and comfort around them.
This story offers an example of empathy, which Krauss reckons is "more vital than ever" in today's world. Following on from Extremis (which portrayed patients at the end of their lives, along with their doctors and their loved ones), the director once again offers us a documentary full of humanity, at a time when HIV-positive patients are still victims of discrimination. 5B, a film about the past which clearly speaks to the present, will be released worldwide and in France, where the global conference for all those who are financially committed for the next three years to the fight against HIV, TB and malaria will be held in October.
