WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.220 It's an Apple podcast titled, The Deep Dive, 00:00:02.480 --> 00:00:05.799 James Wensey, ACTUP, and the Gorilla Lens of 00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:09.339 AIDS Activism, Apple Podcast Description. Uncover 00:00:09.339 --> 00:00:12.460 the media ecology of the 1990s AIDS crisis through 00:00:12.460 --> 00:00:15.099 the lens of James Wensey. We explore his transition 00:00:15.099 --> 00:00:17.500 from 1970s underground New York cinematographer 00:00:17.500 --> 00:00:20.179 to a pivotal videographer for the AIDS Coalition 00:00:20.179 --> 00:00:23.539 to Unleash Power, ACTUP, and damned interfering 00:00:23.539 --> 00:00:26.609 video activist television, DiveETV. Discover 00:00:26.609 --> 00:00:29.129 how raw, unedited footage circumvented mainstream 00:00:29.129 --> 00:00:31.710 media, the physical logistics of pre -internet 00:00:31.710 --> 00:00:34.130 video distribution, and the philosophical tension 00:00:34.130 --> 00:00:36.450 of institutionalizing guerrilla resistance at 00:00:36.450 --> 00:00:39.450 the New York Public Library and MOCA. Essential 00:00:39.450 --> 00:00:41.490 listening for those fascinated by documentary 00:00:41.490 --> 00:00:44.729 film history, archival preservation, and grassroots 00:00:44.729 --> 00:00:46.979 media strategy. Imagine for a second that you 00:00:46.979 --> 00:00:49.560 have this incredible technical skill. Right. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:51.399 You know exactly how to capture the world on 00:00:51.399 --> 00:00:53.979 film, but then suddenly your entire world is 00:00:53.979 --> 00:00:55.899 just turned completely upside down by a life 00:00:55.899 --> 00:00:58.039 -altering medical diagnosis. It's the kind of 00:00:58.039 --> 00:01:00.420 thing that reshapes your entire reality. Exactly. 00:01:00.500 --> 00:01:02.539 So the question becomes, how does your lens change? 00:01:02.899 --> 00:01:04.659 That is the thought experiment I want you to 00:01:04.659 --> 00:01:07.099 keep in mind today. We are looking at a deeply 00:01:07.099 --> 00:01:10.359 specific intersection. The exact point where 00:01:10.750 --> 00:01:13.890 highly technical, behind -the -scenes media skills 00:01:13.890 --> 00:01:17.469 collide with urgent grassroots survival. Because 00:01:17.469 --> 00:01:19.989 if you look at the historical record of any major 00:01:19.989 --> 00:01:22.590 social movement, there is almost always a massive 00:01:22.590 --> 00:01:25.549 gap. A huge gap. Right. A gap between what the 00:01:25.549 --> 00:01:27.750 mainstream evening news is broadcasting to the 00:01:27.750 --> 00:01:29.969 suburbs and what is actually happening down on 00:01:29.969 --> 00:01:32.349 the pavement. And today we are focusing on an 00:01:32.349 --> 00:01:34.870 individual who stepped right into that gap during 00:01:34.870 --> 00:01:37.170 one of the most devastating public health crises 00:01:37.170 --> 00:01:39.530 in American history. We're doing a deep dive 00:01:39.530 --> 00:01:42.010 into the life, the technical methodology and 00:01:42.010 --> 00:01:44.590 the archival legacy of James Wensey. He was a 00:01:44.590 --> 00:01:47.290 definitive American documentary filmmaker. Yes. 00:01:47.790 --> 00:01:50.209 And a core visual architect of the AIDS activist 00:01:50.209 --> 00:01:52.969 movement in New York City. We're using a concise 00:01:52.969 --> 00:01:55.790 but incredibly potent Wikipedia biographical 00:01:55.790 --> 00:01:58.189 article as our source material today. It really 00:01:58.189 --> 00:02:00.709 traces his life and work perfectly. It does. 00:02:00.909 --> 00:02:03.549 Our mission is to unpack this timeline and understand 00:02:03.549 --> 00:02:06.689 how raw, unedited footage can become one of the 00:02:06.689 --> 00:02:10.949 most powerful tools for activism. And historical 00:02:10.949 --> 00:02:13.349 preservation too. If you've ever wondered how 00:02:13.349 --> 00:02:15.990 history gets recorded when the mainstream cameras 00:02:15.990 --> 00:02:19.250 look away, you are in the right place. The media 00:02:19.250 --> 00:02:22.120 ecology of that specific era is just It's what 00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:25.120 makes his trajectory so vital to study. I mean, 00:02:25.219 --> 00:02:27.180 we are talking about the late 1980s and early 00:02:27.180 --> 00:02:30.639 1990s here. Exactly. This is a period where controlling 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:33.599 the visual narrative meant physically controlling 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:36.520 heavy magnetic tapes. Yeah, finding ways to distribute 00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:38.879 them without the luxury of the Internet. Right. 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:41.340 What is fascinating here is the intersection 00:02:41.340 --> 00:02:44.259 of those technical media skills and urgent grassroots 00:02:44.259 --> 00:02:47.300 survival. Wensey's story forces us to look at 00:02:47.300 --> 00:02:49.419 how a counter narrative gets built from the ground 00:02:49.419 --> 00:02:52.199 up. Not by polished media conglomerates. No, 00:02:52.219 --> 00:02:54.240 by individuals who realize that if they do not 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:56.240 record their own survival, their history will 00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:58.860 simply be erased or completely misrepresented 00:02:58.860 --> 00:03:01.439 by the dominant culture. OK, let's unpack this, 00:03:01.939 --> 00:03:03.699 because the foundation of Wensey's technical 00:03:03.699 --> 00:03:06.400 ability actually starts far away from the activism 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:09.879 of 1990s New York. It does. The timeline begins 00:03:09.879 --> 00:03:12.560 in the Midwest. According to the source, James 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:17.060 Oncey was born on October 21st, 1952 in Brookings, 00:03:17.060 --> 00:03:20.219 South Dakota. A long way from the NYC underground. 00:03:20.460 --> 00:03:23.979 Very. And he stays in that region for his education. 00:03:24.419 --> 00:03:26.319 He eventually graduates from the Southern Illinois 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:30.439 University Film Program in 1976. 1976. Yeah. 00:03:30.759 --> 00:03:33.080 And immediately after getting that degree, he 00:03:33.080 --> 00:03:35.879 relocates to New York City. That geographical 00:03:35.879 --> 00:03:38.900 and cultural leap alone is significant, but I 00:03:38.900 --> 00:03:42.599 really want to focus on that year, 1976, and 00:03:42.599 --> 00:03:44.900 what a film degree actually entailed at that 00:03:44.900 --> 00:03:47.000 moment in time. You really have to strip away 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:49.199 any modern conception of pointing a smartphone 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:51.639 and hitting a red digital record button. No digital 00:03:51.639 --> 00:03:54.319 sensors here. None. Graduating from a university 00:03:54.319 --> 00:03:56.939 film program in the mid -1970s meant mastering 00:03:56.939 --> 00:03:59.860 a highly mechanical, intensely chemical, and 00:03:59.860 --> 00:04:02.000 frankly unforgiving physical art form. You are 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.699 dealing entirely with celluloid. Right. You are 00:04:04.699 --> 00:04:06.759 learning the heavy mechanics of threading cameras. 00:04:07.199 --> 00:04:08.979 You're understanding the intricate physics of 00:04:08.979 --> 00:04:11.599 light meters. And you have to anticipate how 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:13.759 different film stocks are going to react. to 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:15.780 various lighting conditions. Because you can't 00:04:15.780 --> 00:04:18.379 check a monitor. Exactly. It was a discipline 00:04:18.379 --> 00:04:21.160 that required a deep hands -on understanding 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:24.620 of exposure and processing. If you made a mistake 00:04:24.620 --> 00:04:27.300 with your exposure or your focus, you wouldn't 00:04:27.300 --> 00:04:30.259 know until the film was processed. days later. 00:04:30.680 --> 00:04:33.180 Which breeds a very specific type of rigorous, 00:04:33.639 --> 00:04:36.339 methodical technician. It had to. Which makes 00:04:36.339 --> 00:04:38.879 his immediate career path in New York City so 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:42.100 compelling. He takes this formal academic training 00:04:42.100 --> 00:04:45.339 in celluloid mechanics and plunges straight into 00:04:45.339 --> 00:04:48.459 the underground economy of 1970s New York. It's 00:04:48.459 --> 00:04:50.899 quite a pivot. Right. His early work included 00:04:50.899 --> 00:04:53.040 being a film cinematographer for the porn industry, 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:55.860 and he also worked extensively as a printer for 00:04:55.860 --> 00:04:58.420 various photographers. What strikes me about 00:04:58.420 --> 00:05:00.939 that specific combination of jobs is the kind 00:05:00.939 --> 00:05:03.379 of pressure cooker environment it creates for 00:05:03.379 --> 00:05:06.740 a young cinematographer. How so? Well, the 1970s 00:05:06.740 --> 00:05:09.399 New York porn industry was not the sterilized, 00:05:09.560 --> 00:05:12.079 high budget, studio controlled environment you 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:14.199 might associate with mainstream Hollywood production. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:17.040 Definitely not. It was gritty, marginalized, 00:05:17.459 --> 00:05:20.420 and highly clandestine. Working as a cinematographer 00:05:20.420 --> 00:05:22.399 in that space meant you were operating entirely 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:25.279 outside of the traditional safety nets of the 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:27.839 film industry. You are dealing with minuscule 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:31.079 budgets. Minuscule. You are likely shooting in 00:05:31.079 --> 00:05:34.459 cramped, unpermitted locations, rundown hotel 00:05:34.459 --> 00:05:37.259 rooms or dingy apartments where you have absolutely 00:05:37.259 --> 00:05:39.279 no control over the ambient environment. And 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:42.139 you have to work fast. Very fast. You can't spend 00:05:42.139 --> 00:05:44.100 three hours setting up a single lighting rig 00:05:44.100 --> 00:05:46.480 when the location might be compromised or the 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:48.399 budget only covers a single day of shooting. 00:05:48.699 --> 00:05:51.120 Right. That environment forces a very specific 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:55.240 kind of scrappy, adaptable, technical proficiency. 00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:57.579 You learn how to maximize whatever practical 00:05:57.579 --> 00:05:59.399 light is available. You learn how to keep the 00:05:59.399 --> 00:06:02.199 camera rolling through chaotic, unscripted moments 00:06:02.199 --> 00:06:04.839 and how to get the necessary shots efficiently 00:06:04.839 --> 00:06:07.389 without a massive grip. an electric crew supporting 00:06:07.389 --> 00:06:10.509 you. That adaptability is crucial. He's essentially 00:06:10.509 --> 00:06:12.449 going through a guerrilla filmmaking boot camp. 00:06:12.509 --> 00:06:14.829 That's a great way to put it. Oh. And simultaneously, 00:06:15.089 --> 00:06:17.350 his work as a photographic printer is honing 00:06:17.350 --> 00:06:20.470 an entirely different but complimentary skill 00:06:20.470 --> 00:06:23.410 set. The darkroom work. Yeah. Photographic printing 00:06:23.410 --> 00:06:26.810 in the analog era was a meticulous laboratory 00:06:26.810 --> 00:06:29.730 process. It requires immense patience, an eye 00:06:29.730 --> 00:06:32.310 for the absolute finest details of contrast, 00:06:32.870 --> 00:06:35.399 shadow, and exposure. And a deep understanding 00:06:35.399 --> 00:06:38.360 of the chemical baths required to bring an image 00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:40.560 to life. Right. So on one hand, you have the 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:44.120 chaotic high speed capture of moving images in 00:06:44.120 --> 00:06:46.180 unpredictable underground settings. And on the 00:06:46.180 --> 00:06:49.199 other hand, you have the precise, careful, solitary 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:52.339 processing of still images in a dark room. He 00:06:52.339 --> 00:06:55.399 is building a formidable technical toolkit. and 00:06:55.399 --> 00:06:57.379 it's completely independent of corporate media 00:06:57.379 --> 00:06:59.680 structures. He knows how to operate in the margins. 00:06:59.879 --> 00:07:01.879 Nice. He knows how to manipulate the physical 00:07:01.879 --> 00:07:04.240 medium of film from the moment the shutter clicks 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:07.079 to the final chemical bath. And that foundational 00:07:07.079 --> 00:07:09.420 reality is what sets the stage for the rest of 00:07:09.420 --> 00:07:11.579 his life. He isn't just the guy who decides to 00:07:11.579 --> 00:07:14.519 buy a camcorder one day. He is a master technician 00:07:14.519 --> 00:07:17.800 who understands the architecture of visual storytelling 00:07:17.800 --> 00:07:20.060 on a molecular level. Here's where it gets really 00:07:20.060 --> 00:07:22.379 interesting, though. because all of that technical 00:07:22.379 --> 00:07:25.220 mastery collides with a devastating personal 00:07:25.220 --> 00:07:28.319 and historical reality. The pivot. The pivot. 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:32.579 The year is 1990. The sources give us two stark 00:07:32.579 --> 00:07:34.639 events that happened to Wensey in this single 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:37.500 year. First, he is diagnosed with HIV. Right. 00:07:37.860 --> 00:07:40.920 Second, he immediately joins the activist group 00:07:40.920 --> 00:07:44.879 ACTUP that exact same year. If we connect this 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:47.750 to the bigger picture, We need to contextualize 00:07:47.750 --> 00:07:50.750 the immense weight of the year 1990 in New York 00:07:50.750 --> 00:07:53.209 City regarding the AIDS epidemic. Please do, 00:07:53.230 --> 00:07:55.610 because it's vital. To understand the synthesis 00:07:55.610 --> 00:07:58.569 of those two facts, the diagnosis and the immediate 00:07:58.569 --> 00:08:00.910 pivot to activism, you have to understand the 00:08:00.910 --> 00:08:04.279 environment. By 1990, the crisis had been ravaging 00:08:04.279 --> 00:08:06.779 the city for nearly a decade. A full death load. 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:09.019 The medical treatments we consider standard today, 00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:12.279 like highly active antiretroviral therapy, simply 00:08:12.279 --> 00:08:14.980 did not exist. They weren't there. An HIV diagnosis 00:08:14.980 --> 00:08:17.160 was, for all intents and purposes, viewed as 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:19.439 a terminal sentence. It was often accompanied 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:22.680 by horrific physical decline and an overwhelming 00:08:22.680 --> 00:08:24.980 social stigma. And it wasn't just a medical crisis. 00:08:25.100 --> 00:08:27.000 We have to report this clearly. It was viewed 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:29.600 by the community as a profound political failure. 00:08:30.019 --> 00:08:32.049 Absolutely. The source material outlines how 00:08:32.049 --> 00:08:34.350 the government response from the municipal level 00:08:34.350 --> 00:08:36.929 all the way up to the White House was perceived 00:08:36.929 --> 00:08:41.149 as silence. apathy and hostility. Public health 00:08:41.149 --> 00:08:43.610 institutions were dragging their feet on drug 00:08:43.610 --> 00:08:46.250 trials. And the mainstream media frequently framed 00:08:46.250 --> 00:08:48.690 the epidemic in ways that blamed the victims 00:08:48.690 --> 00:08:51.649 or isolated them as social pariahs. Which is 00:08:51.649 --> 00:08:54.889 precisely why ACTUP existed in the first place. 00:08:55.169 --> 00:08:58.090 For those who might not be familiar, ACTUP stands 00:08:58.090 --> 00:09:00.970 for the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. Formed 00:09:00.970 --> 00:09:04.330 in 1987. Right. As a direct, militant response 00:09:04.330 --> 00:09:07.649 to that exact systemic neglect. It was a diverse, 00:09:07.750 --> 00:09:10.580 nonpartisan group of individuals united in anger, 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:13.539 committed to direct action to end the AIDS crisis. 00:09:13.740 --> 00:09:16.539 So when Wensey receives his diagnosis in 1990, 00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:20.360 it acts as an undeniable absolute catalyst. The 00:09:20.360 --> 00:09:23.000 diagnosis forces a fundamental shift in his identity. 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:25.440 He transitions from being an observer, a technician 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:27.059 living and working in the background of the city, 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:29.919 to a man thrust into a fight for his own survival. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:32.340 and the survival of his community. I really tried 00:09:32.340 --> 00:09:34.779 to put myself in his shoes in 1990. It's hard 00:09:34.779 --> 00:09:37.519 to imagine. It really is. I honestly don't know 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:39.620 if I would have had the instinct to pick up a 00:09:39.620 --> 00:09:42.740 camera. The natural human response to that kind 00:09:42.740 --> 00:09:45.620 of trauma is often to retreat, to seek comfort, 00:09:45.740 --> 00:09:47.980 or just succumb to the overwhelming fear of the 00:09:47.980 --> 00:09:50.799 unknown. Sure. But once he takes this deeply 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:54.659 terrifying private medical crisis and instantly 00:09:54.659 --> 00:09:57.879 translates it into fierce uncompromising political 00:09:57.879 --> 00:10:00.240 action. He grabs his camera and joins the front 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:02.820 lines. Exactly. He takes the specific tools he 00:10:02.820 --> 00:10:05.940 has spent 15 years mastering, the framing, the 00:10:05.940 --> 00:10:08.100 lighting, the understanding of the lens, and 00:10:08.100 --> 00:10:10.679 he weaponizes them. He brings his entire professional 00:10:10.679 --> 00:10:13.759 identity into the movement. The camera transforms 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:15.960 from a tool used to make a living in the underground 00:10:15.960 --> 00:10:19.039 economy into a critical mechanism for collective 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:21.269 survival. And the way he wields that mechanism 00:10:21.269 --> 00:10:24.269 is what defines his legacy, which brings us to 00:10:24.269 --> 00:10:27.049 the actual aesthetic of his resistance. How he 00:10:27.049 --> 00:10:29.370 shot the movement. Yes. How did he shoot this 00:10:29.370 --> 00:10:31.889 movement? The historical record describes his 00:10:31.889 --> 00:10:34.009 specific style of coverage during his time with 00:10:34.009 --> 00:10:37.269 ACTUP using three very deliberate adjectives. 00:10:37.590 --> 00:10:41.590 Angry, raw, and thorough. Angry, raw, and thorough. 00:10:42.330 --> 00:10:45.730 Furthermore. His work intentionally relied on 00:10:45.730 --> 00:10:48.850 unedited shots and heavily featured activist 00:10:48.850 --> 00:10:51.889 interviews who cover the topics discussed. Those 00:10:51.889 --> 00:10:54.690 adjectives are doing heavy lifting. They really 00:10:54.690 --> 00:10:57.049 are. They represent a radical departure from 00:10:57.049 --> 00:10:59.250 the traditional rules of documentary filmmaking. 00:11:00.070 --> 00:11:02.889 Let's look closely at the insistence on unedited 00:11:02.889 --> 00:11:05.870 shots. Okay. In the realm of media studies, the 00:11:05.870 --> 00:11:08.049 moment you edit a piece of footage, you become 00:11:08.049 --> 00:11:10.490 a mediator. You're filtering it. Right. You are 00:11:10.490 --> 00:11:13.230 making a subjective choice about what the audience 00:11:13.230 --> 00:11:15.850 needs to see, what order they see it in, and 00:11:15.850 --> 00:11:18.129 most crucially, what is left on the cutting room 00:11:18.129 --> 00:11:20.190 floor. But let me play doubles advocate here. 00:11:20.549 --> 00:11:23.110 Doesn't unedited and raw footage run the risk 00:11:23.110 --> 00:11:25.809 of alienating the exact mainstream audience they 00:11:25.809 --> 00:11:28.090 needed to convince? That's the traditional thinking. 00:11:28.190 --> 00:11:30.250 Right. If you are trying to win hearts and minds, 00:11:30.870 --> 00:11:32.730 conventional wisdom says you package the message 00:11:32.730 --> 00:11:35.610 neatly, you provide a calm voiceover, you trim 00:11:35.610 --> 00:11:38.289 the chaotic streaming, and you make it palatable 00:11:38.289 --> 00:11:40.409 for the suburban viewer watching the six o 'clock 00:11:40.409 --> 00:11:43.570 news. Why lean so heavily into the raw anger? 00:11:43.809 --> 00:11:45.330 Because you have to look at the flip side of 00:11:45.330 --> 00:11:48.769 that conventional wisdom. ACTUP wasn't trying 00:11:48.769 --> 00:11:51.210 to win the hearts and minds of a comfortable 00:11:51.210 --> 00:11:53.649 mainstream audience that had already proven it 00:11:53.649 --> 00:11:56.529 was content to look away. They were trying to 00:11:56.529 --> 00:11:59.750 force the hand of the FDA, the NIH, and the political 00:11:59.750 --> 00:12:02.309 establishment. They were trying to disrupt the 00:12:02.309 --> 00:12:05.210 machinery of the state. So making it palatable 00:12:05.210 --> 00:12:08.240 wasn't the goal. Exactly. Mainstein news networks 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:11.220 would show up to an ACTUP demonstration, film 00:12:11.220 --> 00:12:13.259 five seconds of people yelling to paint them 00:12:13.259 --> 00:12:16.320 as chaotic radicals, and then cut back to a clean 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:19.220 -cut anchor who would contextualize the protest 00:12:19.220 --> 00:12:21.879 in a way that sanitized the actual desperation. 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:24.360 They would strip the context to maintain the 00:12:24.360 --> 00:12:27.519 status quo. Precisely. By relying on unedited 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:30.120 shots, Wensey was intentionally removing the 00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:32.440 mediator. He was circumventing the establishment's 00:12:32.440 --> 00:12:34.720 ability to soften or twist the reality of the 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:36.799 crisis. Because unedited footage demands that 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:39.419 the viewer confront the entire event in its actual 00:12:39.419 --> 00:12:42.980 context. Yes. When the camera doesn't cut away, 00:12:43.480 --> 00:12:46.039 you were forced to sit with the discomfort. You 00:12:46.039 --> 00:12:48.340 see the arrests without the framing of a press 00:12:48.340 --> 00:12:50.899 conference. You hear the uninterrupted demands 00:12:50.899 --> 00:12:53.580 of the activists. And by letting the activists 00:12:53.580 --> 00:12:56.139 speak for themselves in these direct, on -the 00:12:56.139 --> 00:12:59.379 -ground interviews, he was creating an undeniable 00:12:59.379 --> 00:13:02.480 primary source. He wasn't making a polished retrospective. 00:13:02.500 --> 00:13:05.240 He was manufacturing evidence. Evidence? That's 00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:08.259 a powerful word for it. The anger of the ACT 00:13:08.259 --> 00:13:10.919 -UP movement was a core component of the truth. 00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:14.559 to edit the anger out, to polish it away for 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:16.759 a more comfortable viewing experience, would 00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:18.899 be a fundamental lie about what was actually 00:13:18.899 --> 00:13:20.980 happening on those streets. That commitment to 00:13:20.980 --> 00:13:23.100 the unvarnished truth ties directly into the 00:13:23.100 --> 00:13:26.580 third adjective, thorough. Angry, raw, thorough. 00:13:27.019 --> 00:13:29.200 A thorough approach means you don't just drop 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:31.779 in, grab a sensational clip of a clash with the 00:13:31.779 --> 00:13:34.019 police, and then pack up your gear. Thorough 00:13:34.019 --> 00:13:36.440 implies an exhaustion of the subject. Once he 00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:39.019 was staying for the entire process, he was documenting 00:13:39.019 --> 00:13:41.519 the boring logistical meetings, the profound 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:44.539 exhaustion of the organizers, the nuance of the 00:13:44.539 --> 00:13:46.740 medical debates they were having, and the full 00:13:46.740 --> 00:13:48.919 spectrum of the activism. So what does this all 00:13:48.919 --> 00:13:53.159 mean? It means his raw, angry, unedited aesthetic 00:13:53.159 --> 00:13:56.539 was a highly calculated tactical choice. Highly 00:13:56.539 --> 00:13:58.899 calculated. He recognized that the traditional, 00:13:59.340 --> 00:14:02.200 objective, neat documentary format was a luxury 00:14:02.200 --> 00:14:05.080 that a dying community could not afford. The 00:14:05.080 --> 00:14:07.279 aesthetic had to match the urgency of the moment. 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:09.360 And that raw aesthetic didn't just stay on the 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:11.659 streets. It eventually scaled up into something 00:14:11.659 --> 00:14:14.580 highly organized, which leads us to his broader 00:14:14.580 --> 00:14:16.909 institutional impact. The scaling up of this 00:14:16.909 --> 00:14:19.190 media strategy is where we see his technical 00:14:19.190 --> 00:14:22.210 background really merge with organizational foresight. 00:14:22.629 --> 00:14:25.470 Starting in 1991, James Wensey becomes a producer 00:14:25.470 --> 00:14:29.289 and director for an entity known as DivaTV. DivaTV. 00:14:29.490 --> 00:14:31.590 And we should clarify for the listener, DivaTV 00:14:31.590 --> 00:14:34.190 stands for Damned Interfering Video Activist 00:14:34.190 --> 00:14:36.580 Television. Such a great name. It really is. 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:39.879 It was an affinity group within ACTUP, specifically 00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:42.779 focused on video documentation and alternative 00:14:42.779 --> 00:14:46.259 media production. And Wensey's explicit goal 00:14:46.259 --> 00:14:48.940 within this organization was incredibly ambitious. 00:14:49.379 --> 00:14:52.000 What was the mission? The source states his aim 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:54.799 was to create a national media network devoted 00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:57.019 to reflecting the struggles, needs, and state 00:14:57.019 --> 00:15:00.480 of mind of people affected by AIDS. The phrasing 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:03.059 of that mission statement requires deep analysis. 00:15:03.179 --> 00:15:05.539 Let's do it. Notice the specific conclusion of 00:15:05.539 --> 00:15:08.360 the phrase state of mind. Yeah. He didn't just 00:15:08.360 --> 00:15:10.500 say he wanted a network to broadcast their political 00:15:10.500 --> 00:15:12.519 demands or to document their medical struggles. 00:15:12.860 --> 00:15:14.860 Reflecting the state of mind of people affected 00:15:14.860 --> 00:15:17.980 by AIDS is a profound psychological distinction. 00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:20.860 It elevates the project from mere political propaganda 00:15:20.860 --> 00:15:23.840 to a comprehensive anthropological record. It 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:26.120 ensures that the humanity of the community remains 00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:29.340 at the forefront. Mainstream media might occasionally 00:15:29.340 --> 00:15:31.860 flash a statistic about rising infection rates 00:15:31.860 --> 00:15:35.340 or show b -roll of a hospital ward, but capturing 00:15:35.340 --> 00:15:37.820 the state of mind means broadcasting the complex 00:15:37.820 --> 00:15:40.100 emotional reality. It means showing the dark 00:15:40.100 --> 00:15:42.519 necessary humor the activists used to survive. 00:15:42.980 --> 00:15:45.470 Right. It means capturing the profound grief 00:15:45.470 --> 00:15:48.549 of memorial services, the fierce solidarity of 00:15:48.549 --> 00:15:51.210 the meetings, and the sheer terror of the unknown. 00:15:51.629 --> 00:15:53.529 You cannot capture a community state of mind 00:15:53.529 --> 00:15:56.370 unless you are embedded within it. What really 00:15:56.370 --> 00:15:59.110 strikes me about that goal is the sheer logistical 00:15:59.110 --> 00:16:02.169 audacity of trying to build a national media 00:16:02.169 --> 00:16:05.429 network from the grassroots level in 1991. We 00:16:05.429 --> 00:16:07.269 have to remind ourselves of the technological 00:16:07.269 --> 00:16:10.360 limitations of the era. It's hard to even conceptualize 00:16:10.360 --> 00:16:12.879 now. This is a pre -internet media landscape. 00:16:13.159 --> 00:16:16.120 There are no social media platforms, no algorithmic 00:16:16.120 --> 00:16:19.100 feeds, no instant global distribution channels 00:16:19.100 --> 00:16:20.879 where you can upload a video and reach a million 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:23.039 people overnight. If you wanted to share a video 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:25.759 in 1991, it required immense physical labor. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:28.159 And exercise and brute force logistics. We're 00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:31.840 talking about shooting on... heavy physical videotapes, 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:35.179 likely formats like Hi8 or 3 1⁄4 inch Eumatic. 00:16:35.419 --> 00:16:38.139 Heavy gear. Very heavy gear. Once the footage 00:16:38.139 --> 00:16:40.419 was captured the editing process was linear and 00:16:40.419 --> 00:16:43.299 painstakingly slow and then came distribution. 00:16:43.580 --> 00:16:47.159 The sneaker net. Exactly. Creating a national 00:16:47.159 --> 00:16:50.139 network meant setting up massive VHS dubbing 00:16:50.139 --> 00:16:53.500 stations. Activists would physically copy tapes 00:16:53.500 --> 00:16:56.980 one by one in real time. In real time. If it's 00:16:56.980 --> 00:16:59.179 a two -hour tape, it takes two hours to copy. 00:16:59.340 --> 00:17:02.440 Right. Then they had to establish complex mail 00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:05.940 trees. physically shipping these VHS cassettes 00:17:05.940 --> 00:17:08.220 across the country to other activist chapters 00:17:08.220 --> 00:17:10.539 in the mail. And they were constantly lobbying 00:17:10.539 --> 00:17:12.819 public access television stations in various 00:17:12.819 --> 00:17:16.500 cities to secure late night broadcast slots just 00:17:16.500 --> 00:17:18.759 to get the footage in front of civilian eyeballs. 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:21.279 It was a massive community organizing effort 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:23.839 masquerading as a media project. And once he 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:26.400 wasn't just facilitating this distribution, he 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:29.460 was actively creating long form content for it. 00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:31.980 During this period, he directed his first feature 00:17:31.980 --> 00:17:34.759 length documentary. It was titled Fight Back, 00:17:35.019 --> 00:17:37.319 Fight AIDS. The existence of Fight Back, Fight 00:17:37.319 --> 00:17:40.079 AIDS within that specific timeline is fascinating. 00:17:40.140 --> 00:17:42.140 Because it wasn't retrospective. Right. This 00:17:42.140 --> 00:17:44.519 wasn't a film made decades later with the benefit 00:17:44.519 --> 00:17:46.880 of hindsight and massive historical archives. 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:50.200 This was a piece of media generated in the exact 00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:53.259 middle of the maelstrom. An immediate real time 00:17:53.259 --> 00:17:55.599 dispatch from the front lines. Designed to be 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:57.740 watched by the people who were actively fighting 00:17:57.740 --> 00:18:00.980 the war. The function of a documentary like that 00:18:00.980 --> 00:18:03.779 is entirely different from a historical retrospective. 00:18:03.869 --> 00:18:07.450 It is meant to educate, to radicalize, and to 00:18:07.450 --> 00:18:10.009 provide a tactical blueprint for other activists 00:18:10.009 --> 00:18:12.509 in other cities. But his dedication doesn't end 00:18:12.509 --> 00:18:15.210 when the peak of the 1990s crisis subsides. No, 00:18:15.349 --> 00:18:17.509 it continues. The historical record shows his 00:18:17.509 --> 00:18:20.690 involvement stretching across decades. Over 20 00:18:20.690 --> 00:18:22.849 years later, he serves as the cinematographer 00:18:22.849 --> 00:18:26.009 for the 2012 documentary film United in Anger, 00:18:26.250 --> 00:18:29.170 a history of ACT -UP. The contrast between those 00:18:29.170 --> 00:18:31.589 two projects is a perfect illustration of his 00:18:31.589 --> 00:18:33.859 lifelong commitment. Fight back. Fight AIDS is 00:18:33.859 --> 00:18:36.700 the urgent, messy, real -time broadcast. And 00:18:36.700 --> 00:18:39.920 United in Anger, released in 2012, is a structured, 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:42.859 reflective historical text. It represents the 00:18:42.859 --> 00:18:45.099 movement looking back at itself, codifying its 00:18:45.099 --> 00:18:47.359 own history for a new generation. Going from 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:49.519 the man holding the camera in the chaotic street 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:53.099 protests of 1990 to serving as the formal cinematographer 00:18:53.099 --> 00:18:55.299 for the definitive historical documentary in 00:18:55.299 --> 00:18:58.440 2012. It demonstrates an unwavering dedication 00:18:58.440 --> 00:19:00.559 to the narrative. He didn't just capture the 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:02.799 history as it occurred. He stayed in the room 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:05.500 to ensure the story was framed correctly when 00:19:05.500 --> 00:19:08.480 society finally decided to look back. And that 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:10.799 transition from the urgent capture of history 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:14.119 to the meticulous preservation of it brings us 00:19:14.119 --> 00:19:16.900 to the final and perhaps most philosophically 00:19:16.900 --> 00:19:20.420 complex chapter of his work. The archiving. Yes. 00:19:20.920 --> 00:19:23.420 Today, James Wensey is a video archivist for 00:19:23.420 --> 00:19:26.720 the Estate Project's AIDS Activist Video Preservation 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:29.059 Project, which is housed at the New York Public 00:19:29.059 --> 00:19:31.910 Library. That is a massive institution. Beyond 00:19:31.910 --> 00:19:34.210 that, his footage is currently being exhibited 00:19:34.210 --> 00:19:37.289 at MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los 00:19:37.289 --> 00:19:39.869 Angeles. This raises an important question about 00:19:39.869 --> 00:19:42.769 the life cycle of grassroots resistance. What 00:19:42.769 --> 00:19:45.190 happens to the physical artifacts of a rebellion 00:19:45.190 --> 00:19:47.670 when the immediate street protests conclude? 00:19:47.849 --> 00:19:49.630 They don't just magically preserve themselves. 00:19:49.809 --> 00:19:53.069 Not at all. The reality of analog video is terrifying 00:19:53.069 --> 00:19:55.289 from a preservation standpoint. Because the tape 00:19:55.289 --> 00:19:58.430 degrades. Magnetic tape physically breaks down 00:19:58.430 --> 00:20:01.650 over time. It is susceptible to temperature, 00:20:02.009 --> 00:20:05.130 humidity, and simple magnetic decay. If someone 00:20:05.130 --> 00:20:08.329 doesn't take the active, incredibly tedious step 00:20:08.329 --> 00:20:11.329 of digitizing and archiving those hundreds of 00:20:11.329 --> 00:20:15.349 hours of raw, unedited tapes, that history literally 00:20:15.349 --> 00:20:17.990 crumbles into dust. Which makes his role as an 00:20:17.990 --> 00:20:20.549 archivist just as critical as his role as a cinematographer. 00:20:20.690 --> 00:20:22.869 It really is. He transitions from being the man 00:20:22.869 --> 00:20:24.869 wielding the camera in the center of a chaotic, 00:20:25.089 --> 00:20:27.730 illegal demonstration to the man sitting quietly 00:20:27.730 --> 00:20:30.819 in an archive. meticulously cataloging and preserving 00:20:30.819 --> 00:20:32.920 the physical media for the New York Public Library. 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:35.660 It is the absolute full life cycle of historical 00:20:35.660 --> 00:20:38.220 preservation. But we also have to grapple with 00:20:38.220 --> 00:20:40.819 the profound philosophical tension of where that 00:20:40.819 --> 00:20:43.200 footage ended up. Right, the institutionalization. 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:45.259 Think about the nature of this media. These tapes 00:20:45.259 --> 00:20:47.880 were born out of desperate anti -institutional 00:20:47.880 --> 00:20:51.769 protests. Yes. They were angry. unedited guerrilla 00:20:51.769 --> 00:20:54.690 style recordings specifically designed to disrupt 00:20:54.690 --> 00:20:57.190 the status quo to challenge the government and 00:20:57.190 --> 00:21:00.549 to bypass the establishment media. And now that 00:21:00.549 --> 00:21:03.769 exact same revolutionary footage is being carefully 00:21:03.769 --> 00:21:07.640 preserved. protected and institutionalized by 00:21:07.640 --> 00:21:10.539 massive established cultural pillars like the 00:21:10.539 --> 00:21:13.779 New York Public Library and MOCA. It is the ultimate 00:21:13.779 --> 00:21:16.299 institutionalization of resistance. You have 00:21:16.299 --> 00:21:18.759 to wonder, is there an irony in the fact that 00:21:18.759 --> 00:21:21.079 a movement which had to rebel against the systemic 00:21:21.079 --> 00:21:24.140 institutions of society ultimately requires those 00:21:24.140 --> 00:21:26.980 same types of legacy institutions to ensure its 00:21:26.980 --> 00:21:29.759 survival in the historical record? It is an inherent 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:32.059 paradox in any successful radical movement. Not 00:21:32.059 --> 00:21:34.359 this. But rather than viewing it as a compromise, 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:37.579 I see it as a profound victory. A victory? Yes. 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:39.680 The activists forced their way into the cultural 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:41.859 canon. The institutions didn't naturally invite 00:21:41.859 --> 00:21:45.180 them in. The sheer undeniable weight, thoroughness, 00:21:45.220 --> 00:21:48.039 and artistic vitalism of the footage Wensie and 00:21:48.039 --> 00:21:50.700 Diva TV created demanded to be preserved. They 00:21:50.700 --> 00:21:52.740 made themselves impossible to ignore. Exactly. 00:21:52.980 --> 00:21:55.039 By securing a place in the New York Public Library, 00:21:55.259 --> 00:21:57.440 Wensie ensures that the unedited truth he fought 00:21:57.440 --> 00:22:00.609 so fiercely to capture remains permanently accessible. 00:22:01.190 --> 00:22:03.630 He secured the primary sources so that future 00:22:03.630 --> 00:22:06.089 historians cannot easily sanitize the narrative. 00:22:06.430 --> 00:22:08.369 The mediator remains permanently removed from 00:22:08.369 --> 00:22:10.470 the archive. The activists will always be able 00:22:10.470 --> 00:22:12.450 to speak for themselves because he saved the 00:22:12.450 --> 00:22:15.150 tapes. So as we look at the totality of James 00:22:15.150 --> 00:22:17.630 Wensey's impact, we see a remarkable evolution. 00:22:17.769 --> 00:22:20.089 We see a highly trained celluloid technician 00:22:20.089 --> 00:22:22.990 from South Dakota who masters his craft in the 00:22:22.990 --> 00:22:26.329 gritty margins of 1970s New York. We see how 00:22:26.329 --> 00:22:30.230 a terrifying 1990 HIV diagnosis galvanized that 00:22:30.230 --> 00:22:33.549 technical mastery, turning him into a definitive 00:22:33.549 --> 00:22:37.640 unflinching lens for the ACT -UP movement. We 00:22:37.640 --> 00:22:40.279 see a man who understood the media ecology of 00:22:40.279 --> 00:22:43.460 his time well enough to help build DivaTV, utilizing 00:22:43.460 --> 00:22:46.200 a raw, thorough aesthetic to force a counter 00:22:46.200 --> 00:22:48.220 -narrative into the public consciousness through 00:22:48.220 --> 00:22:50.599 massive logistical effort. And finally, we see 00:22:50.599 --> 00:22:53.519 the archivist, guarding the magnetic memory of 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:55.799 his community against the erosion of time. It 00:22:55.799 --> 00:22:58.240 is a masterclass in how an individual can control 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:01.000 the means of production to combat systemic erasure. 00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:03.380 I want to leave you, the listener, with a final 00:23:03.380 --> 00:23:05.900 thought as we wrap up this deep dive. It's important 00:23:05.900 --> 00:23:08.839 to reflect on where we are now. Today, we exist 00:23:08.839 --> 00:23:12.069 in an entirely different media universe. Almost 00:23:12.069 --> 00:23:14.470 all of us walk around with high -definition digital 00:23:14.470 --> 00:23:17.150 cameras in our pockets. We possess the capability 00:23:17.150 --> 00:23:20.309 to broadcast our own unedited realities to the 00:23:20.309 --> 00:23:23.529 entire globe in a matter of seconds. We effortlessly 00:23:23.529 --> 00:23:26.730 wield the instant, frictionless distribution 00:23:26.730 --> 00:23:30.549 network that James Wensey, DivaTV, and ACT -UP 00:23:30.549 --> 00:23:34.450 could only dream of building in 1991. But looking 00:23:34.450 --> 00:23:37.529 back at Wensey's deeply deliberate, rigorously 00:23:37.529 --> 00:23:40.490 thorough and purposeful documentation of a vital 00:23:40.490 --> 00:23:42.680 movement, You have to ask yourself a question. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:45.960 A tough question. In an era of constant overwhelming 00:23:45.960 --> 00:23:48.079 digital noise where everyone is broadcasting 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:50.660 all the time, are we actually capturing the true 00:23:50.660 --> 00:23:52.759 state of mind of our communities? Or have we 00:23:52.759 --> 00:23:55.460 lost something in the noise? Right. In our endless 00:23:55.460 --> 00:23:58.500 rush to post and consume fleeting content, have 00:23:58.500 --> 00:24:01.440 we lost the focused necessary clarity that made 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:03.579 a gorilla lens so powerful in the first place? 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:06.279 Thank you for joining us on this deep dive. Keep 00:24:06.279 --> 00:24:08.619 asking the hard questions and look closely at 00:24:08.619 --> 00:24:10.819 the unedited realities in the world around you.