SOCIAL ISSUES EMPHASIS : AIDS MESSAGE REFLECTS FOCUS OF VIDEO FESTIVAL

“PEOPLE WITH AIDS.”

That black-lettered message, superimposed across ordinary over-the-air broadcast television, was the first video image greeting many of the 1,700 attending the American Film Institute’s seventh annual four-day Video Festival here.

On Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., the pictures beneath those bold letters included everything from news to kidvid to the World Series. Every figure appearing on a Sony Trinitron--whether President Reagan, child actors hawking fluffy, huggy dolls, or hot-shot baseball players--was designated as a potential victim.

The installation, by artist Gretchen Bender, was meant to “turn television into its own critic, reversing its rhetoric and annexing its power,” according to the festival catalogue.

It was an apt place to start. The AFI gathering had a new coordinator this year, Kenneth Kirby, and a new emphasis--on social issues. Among the presentations were 24 hours of videos about the Vietnam War and a panel discussion on the television/video coverage of the war, plus another panel and approximately 75 videos (from five minutes to more than an hour in length) on sexuality and related issues, including AIDS.

Despite the added elements, there was no lack of video art for video art’s sake--including 29 selections in a special “New Works” category.

The highlight of the “new works” category on Saturday, many festivalgoers agreed, was an hourlong video by veteran San Francisco film maker George Kuchar. With a Sony 8-millimeter Handycam that he totes along just about everywhere (including the festival), Kuchar shot “Video Album 5/The Thursday People” around a central subject that could have been maudlin--the death of fellow film maker Curt McDowell. But maudlin isn’t Kuchar’s style--nor was McDowell’s. The video was funny and moving. Kuchar shot it by himself over two months “for about $15”--editing “in the camera” through careful shot selection and rewind tricks, avoiding any post-production devices (and costs) other than some audio dubbing during transference to 3/4-inch tape.

Even though the various video makers’ equipment ranged from the expensive to the relatively cheap, and the cost of the videos ranged from practically nothing to $100,000 spent on one co-directed by Jonathan Demme, the imagery was consistently impressive.

Among the swirl of messages coming from the AFI Video Festival, one was particularly encouraging to budding video makers: The process of shooting and editing video has become so accessible and affordable that it’s well within the reach of many people who never could have come up with the money to make a film.