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News, Reviews & Commentary on Gay and Bisexual Men in Entertainment and the Media

Wolfe Video picks up "Pedro" for a June DVD release

Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black has captured the life story of another real-life gay hero, and it's coming to DVD this summer.

Read on for the details!

Pedro, a biopic about openly gay HIV activist Pedro Zamora and the impact he had on the entire nation by appearing on MTV's The Real World, has been acquired by Wolfe Video for a DVD release this June, according to indieWIRE.com. Alex Loynaz stars as the Cuban-born Zamora, who shared with MTV viewers his struggles with AIDS, his wedding to his partner Sean and, eventually, his death. Justina Machado (Six Feet Under) plays Pedro's sister Milly.

When Zamora passed away in 1994, President Bill Clinton praised him for personalizing the pandemic and stated that everyone in America now knew someone who had died from AIDS complications.

Pedro was directed by Nick Oceano and produced by Quinceañera creators Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer. MTV — which has retained broadcast rights for the film — will premiere Pedro on April 1, 2009 on several of its networks (including Logo, which owns AfterElton.com).

Curtis's picture

Wow

I can't wait to see this film.  I'm 36 and I basically grew up watching the first installment of The Real World with Norm, who was a big influence on my life because he was out and open about his life.  He was dating the unknown-at-the-time TV host and correspondent and just fine as hell, Charles Perez and seeing them canoodling at a gay march/rally on primetime was so big to me.  By the time Saint Pedro Zamora came along I was so used to seeing gay people on tv, especially MTV.  Pedro wasn't just a TV revelation but he was this whirlwind for the entire world to see and stand up and take notice.  He disclosed so much about his personal life on this show and he really didn't have to but for his own sake he couldn't stay quiet about the beauty and the ugly part of his entire gay experience.  His impact was so huge for a time that HIV/AIDS was still this taboo subject.  Seeing this extremely easy on the eyes and visually healthy young man, with the most adorable accent, talking about awareness and education, opened up dialogue that wasn't there before.  We got the honor and priviledge to watch him live, love and sadly enough even die.  It was so beautiful and quite sad all at the same time but it was poignant for my own life at that moment.  He was a Saint in my eyes and will always be remembered for his short but sweet walk on this planet because his life was undeniably important for all that actually got what he was saying and what he was doing.  Thank God, someone is going to tell his story because it's worth telling because he inspired an entire generation which his courage and his undying love for life and education.