LAGUNA BEACH : Video About AIDS to Be Shot in City

A promotional video intended as a first step toward creation of a documentary about people living with the AIDS virus will be shot in the streets of Laguna Beach this weekend.

Independent producer C.L. Roy Nesbitt, who recently moved from Los Angeles to Laguna Beach, said he decided to do the filming after learning that a friend of his was infected with the virus.

After researching the subject and meeting others who had received the same diagnosis, Nesbitt said, he decided to create a 90-minute documentary that he hopes will eventually be broadcast nationally and used by health care professionals.

“I was inspired by people I had met that were living with an HIV diagnosis--their courage, their strength, their sense of humor in the face of such dire statistics and awful discrimination,” he said.

Nesbitt, who said he hopes the video will help raise about $150,000 for the documentary, said there is a lot to be learned from people who live with HIV.

“I think, as hideous as any life-threatening illness is, no other disease carries the moral judgment that an HIV- and AIDS-infected person does,” he said.

The video will be shot throughout the day Saturday and Sunday. Called “The Gift of Legacy,” it will introduce nine people of various backgrounds from Orange and Los Angeles counties. None of the people who will be profiled in the documentary are Laguna Beach residents, Nesbitt said.

“Although we are shooting in and around Laguna, we are not featuring the city of Laguna Beach but are utilizing various locations that could be ‘Anywhere, U.S.A,’ ” he said.

Nesbitt said a private donor contributed $1,600 to produce the six-minute promotional video.