We Were Here tells the story of the emergence and devastation of the AIDS epidemic through the lens of five interviewees, each a member of a community defined by survival and loss.

Weissman himself lived through the epidemic and was heavily involved in community politics at that time. “At that point, we didn’t know if it was ever going to end or if any of us were going to survive,” he says now. “I do know, partially because of having Holocaust in my family background, that I was thinking during the dark years of the epidemic at some point we would need to tell this story for our own healing as well as for posterity. The actual idea of making a movie never really occurred to me until a younger boyfriend of mine suggested it after having heard me talk so much about my experiences in those years. Once he suggested it, it triggered all of the stuff that I’d had in my consciousness all that time. It moved quickly from there.”

Of the five voices chosen to represent their own stories as well as those of the wider community, Weissman insists, “None of them were sought out. I feel that I live and work in a very intuitive way and not in a very organised way. I knew all of those people a little. During the course of conversation I thought I’d interview them. Four of the first six interviews I did are in the film. We only did a total of nine.”

The interviews that comprise the film are shot in a single take, over a three-hour period. Those who speak are generous with their memories, and project an intimacy and warmth in their storytelling. Their agenda for sharing their memories is made clear by one of the interviewees, Daniel from the outset, “None of my friends are around from the beginning, so I want to tell their story as much as I want to tell my story,” he says.

For Weissman it was the “sense of their emotional openness and generosity and willingness to introspect in front of a camera and with me” that locked in what he calls the “casting” of the documentary. He adds, “I think there was a very important element of trust. I think everyone did it for his or her own cathartic process. But everyone also understood what they were doing in terms of contributing to an important historical moment.

“From the beginning, it was very daunting — even narrowing it down just to San Francisco — how do you tell this epic, complicated, 30-year history in a ninety-minute movie?” he asks. “Ultimately, in the first interview with Ed, I had a strong sensation that I wanted to go for emotional and human depth rather than breadth of information. And hope that I could get a small number of very deep stories to evoke a much bigger historical picture. I think we’ve succeeded pretty well in doing that, which is kind of amazing to me.”

Weissman is an insider to the film’s history and didn’t undertake research for the film. As he tells it, “This is a period that I lived through. In many ways, I am utilising these five interviewees to tell my own story. I was very engaged in San Francisco politics and community all during those years. So the basic structure was already there. Also there were things that I am particularly interested in. To some degree, in interviews like these, you ask questions and try to get certain types of material, but the interview takes it’s own path. The person being interviewed needs to have the freedom to have their own realisations and revelations, unhindered by me interrupting them. I think that as each interview was completed, I had an immediate sense of what subject matter was available. It helped influenced my thoughts about who else to interview and certain kinds of questioning.

“It wasn’t a heavily directed interview in terms of subject matter,” he says now. “The interviews were shared, cathartic dialogues between me and the person being interviewed. I don’t think anyone who didn’t live through it could do these kinds of interviews. They knew they were talking to someone who completely got it. Very rarely do we have an opportunity to speak about such heavy material without worrying that the other person really doesn’t want to hear it, that it’s not appropriate to talk about. I think to have an opportunity to have someone sitting in front of you, who not only has lived through the same thing but is saying ‘tell me more, tell me more’ can be a wonderful process.”

I ask Weissman if there is something he wants to communicate to Australian audiences, most of who haven’t yet seen the film. “The thing that is most consistent since the movie started to play publicly is that people are afraid to see it because they think it’s going to be a downer,” he admits. “Then they go and see it and find out that it’s anything but. It’s an emotionally powerful film, but almost universally people are coming out of it with an incredible feeling of inspiration and uplift.”