Jean Carlomusto (born 1959, Queens, New York) is a New York filmmaker,
AIDS activist, and interactive media artist. She produced and directed
HBO's Emmy nominated documentary, Larry Kramer in Love & Anger, which
was featured at the Sundance Film Festival. Her works have been
exhibited internationally in festivals, museums and on television.
She was an early pioneer in documenting the AIDS crisis. As the
founder of the Multimedia Unit at Gay Men's Health Crisis, she created
the television series Living with AIDS. She was a founding member of
DIVA TV (a video affinity group of ACT UP) and a member of the Testing
The Limits Video Collective.Jean Carlomusto graduated from Sewanhaka
High School in Floral Park, Queens, New York, in 1977. She earned her
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Film from C.W. Post in 1981. She
earned her M.P.S. in Interactive Telecommunications from the Tisch
School of the Arts at New York University.Carlomusto has played a
major role in media production for AIDS activists groups. Her AIDS
activist work began in 1986, while working as a teaching assistant at
New York University, assisting student teams in a class making
educational videos for local organizations. When Joey Leonte from the
Gay Men's Health Crisis came to her class to request a video, and none
of the students wanted to work with him, the shame of her class'
reaction drove Carlomusto to volunteer for the Gay Men's Health Crisis
to increase awareness about AIDS and build empathy for those with the
illness. She began as the projectionist for their safe sex workshops,
then left her teaching job at NYU to start up the Multimedia
Production Unit in order to produce a weekly television program called
Living with AIDS. This was the longest running of the Gay Men's Health
Crisis television series, with guest videographers including Marina
Alvarez, Sarah Cawley, Ronald Dodd, Andres J. Figueroa, Laura Ganis,
Alexandra Juhasz, Ray Navarro, Steven Okazaki, Catherine Saalfield,
Kristin Thomas, and Paul Zakrzewski. These videographers not only made
safe sex videos and educational films for healthy living with AIDS,
but also gathered oral histories and interviews from diverse group of
people suffering from the disease.Carlomusto was part of the Woman's
affinity group of ACT UP that focused on bringing visibility to how
AIDS impacted women. In 1988, in response to an article by Dr Robert
Gould in Cosmopolitan Magazine which said that straight women did not
have to worry about AIDS, the Woman's Affinity group, including
Rebecca Cole, Maxine Wolfe, Maria Maggenti and Denise Ribble, and
Carlomusto organized a direct action against Cosmopolitan Magazine.
They interviewed the author of that article, psychiatrist Robert
Gould, who had made uninformed statements about women and AIDS.
AIDS activist, and interactive media artist. She produced and directed
HBO's Emmy nominated documentary, Larry Kramer in Love & Anger, which
was featured at the Sundance Film Festival. Her works have been
exhibited internationally in festivals, museums and on television.
She was an early pioneer in documenting the AIDS crisis. As the
founder of the Multimedia Unit at Gay Men's Health Crisis, she created
the television series Living with AIDS. She was a founding member of
DIVA TV (a video affinity group of ACT UP) and a member of the Testing
The Limits Video Collective.Jean Carlomusto graduated from Sewanhaka
High School in Floral Park, Queens, New York, in 1977. She earned her
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Film from C.W. Post in 1981. She
earned her M.P.S. in Interactive Telecommunications from the Tisch
School of the Arts at New York University.Carlomusto has played a
major role in media production for AIDS activists groups. Her AIDS
activist work began in 1986, while working as a teaching assistant at
New York University, assisting student teams in a class making
educational videos for local organizations. When Joey Leonte from the
Gay Men's Health Crisis came to her class to request a video, and none
of the students wanted to work with him, the shame of her class'
reaction drove Carlomusto to volunteer for the Gay Men's Health Crisis
to increase awareness about AIDS and build empathy for those with the
illness. She began as the projectionist for their safe sex workshops,
then left her teaching job at NYU to start up the Multimedia
Production Unit in order to produce a weekly television program called
Living with AIDS. This was the longest running of the Gay Men's Health
Crisis television series, with guest videographers including Marina
Alvarez, Sarah Cawley, Ronald Dodd, Andres J. Figueroa, Laura Ganis,
Alexandra Juhasz, Ray Navarro, Steven Okazaki, Catherine Saalfield,
Kristin Thomas, and Paul Zakrzewski. These videographers not only made
safe sex videos and educational films for healthy living with AIDS,
but also gathered oral histories and interviews from diverse group of
people suffering from the disease.Carlomusto was part of the Woman's
affinity group of ACT UP that focused on bringing visibility to how
AIDS impacted women. In 1988, in response to an article by Dr Robert
Gould in Cosmopolitan Magazine which said that straight women did not
have to worry about AIDS, the Woman's Affinity group, including
Rebecca Cole, Maxine Wolfe, Maria Maggenti and Denise Ribble, and
Carlomusto organized a direct action against Cosmopolitan Magazine.
They interviewed the author of that article, psychiatrist Robert
Gould, who had made uninformed statements about women and AIDS.
Share this
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.