Scenes from a struggle: In New York City, a distraught activist confronts the mayor with a story of a friend who languished on a cot in an emergency room hallway for nine days, only to die 48 hours after leaving the hospital. In Washington, thousands of activists hold the Food and Drug Administration under siege in 1988, demanding speedier drug approval. Two years later, AIDS activists converge on the National Institutes of Health, calling for a more equitable clinical trial system and expanded research into new drugs and treatment.

Voices from the Front, the first feature-length documentary on AIDS activism in America, provides an up-close view of the emotional and political effects of community activism through the experiences of those directly engaged. It is a powerful distillation, in pictures and words, of events organized to change public consciousness, expose the failure of the health care system, and challenge government inaction and neglect concerning AIDS.