Peter Adair; Filmmaker Documented Gay Issues
Peter Adair, a documentary filmmaker who called attention to gay and lesbian issues through his work, died of an AIDS-related illness Thursday. He was 53.
His films included the 1977 documentary “Word Is Out,” which presented a positive picture of 27 gays and lesbians; the 1983 documentary “Stopping History,” about anti-nuclear activism; and “Absolutely Positive,” a 1991 documentary about 12 men and women, among them himself, living with the HIV virus.
In an interview shortly before “Absolutely Positive” aired on PBS, the Santa Monica native said that the idea for the film surfaced when he helped to produce a training video for a sexually transmitted disease clinic.
“I realized that there is a big film here,” he said. “It was clearly a film that would be useful to people.”
He is survived by his partner, his father and two sisters.
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