'The mid-seventies - and satin baggies and chunky platforms reigned supreme. Jethro Tull did battle with glam-rock for the airwaves. At an all-boys Catholic school in Melbourne Timothy Conigrave fell wildly and sweetly in love with the captain of the football team. So began a relationship that was to last for fifteen years, a love affair that weathered disapproval, separation and, ultimately, death. Holding the Man recreates that relationship. With honesty and insight it explore the highs and lows of any partnership: the intimacy, constraints, temptations. And the strength of heart both men had to find when they tested positive to HIV.' (Publisher's blurb)
'In the 1970s, a young Australian boy, Timothy, finds himself confused. He falls for the captain of the football team. What follows shows all aspects of a relationship, regardless of gender or sexual preference. Conflict, temptation, and a huge burden which will affect every aspect of their lives.' (Production summary: IMDB)
Writing Disability in Australia:
Type of disability | HIV/AIDS. |
Type of character | Primary. |
Point of view | First person (autobiographical). |
Released mere months after the premiere of Holding the Man – the lauded film adaptation of Timothy Conigrave's memoir of the same name – Remembering the Man offers new insights into Conigrave's relationship with John Caleo through interviews and archival footage. Beyond being a mere companion piece, the documentary provides a more compelling account by chronicling the wider world surrounding the couple's romance, writes Laurence Barber.
'At an exclusive Catholic boys school in Melbourne 1976, Tim Conigrave and John Caleo fell madly in love. Their passionate, tempestuous, operatic romance lasted for 16 years, facing disapproval, temptation, separation, and the looming shadow of the Grim Reaper. Their relationship has been immortalised in Conigrave's posthumous autobiography Holding the Man (now a major Australian film directed by Neil Armfield). This is the true story of how Romeo met Romeo and how first love can not only last but endure.' (Source: Screen Australia website)