In the mid-1980s, a simple number and letter designated a ward on the fifth floor of San Francisco General Hospital, the first in the country designed specifically to treat AIDS patients.

5B is the inspirational story of everyday heroes, the nurses and caregivers who took extraordinary action to comfort, protect, and care for the patients of the first AIDS ward unit in the United States. 5B is stirringly told through first-person testimony of these nurses and caregivers who built Ward 5B in 1983 at San Francisco General Hospital, their patients, loved ones, and staff who volunteered to create care practices based in humanity and holistic well-being during a time of great fear and uncertainty. The result is an uplifting yet candid and bittersweet monument to a pivotal moment in American history and a celebration of quiet heroes, nurses and caregivers worthy of remembrance and renewed recognition.

In the 1980s, a new disease ravaged the United States, specifically targeting the gay communities that had spent the decades prior demanding a place in mainstream society. Originally manifesting as an obscure form of cancer, it was eventually understood as an autoimmune disease and given a name: HIV/AIDS.

A nationwide panic followed, and those infected often found themselves subjected to violent abuse as discussion of the disease was inextricably bound up in discussions of homosexuality and homophobia itself. Compounded by the inaction of a federal government that refused to even publicly acknowledge the disease until almost 20,000 people had already died, the disease tore apart gay communities and left a tragic mark on the country that endures to this day. It was at once a national health crisis and a political firestorm that influenced the American discourse on topics as far-ranging as immigration, healthcare policy, and freedom of speech.

5B is the story of hope and perseverance in the face of despair during the depths of the AIDS crisis in America. But it’s also a story of San Francisco itself, the hub of a thriving gay community and the location of Ward 5B, built by the heroic nurses who lovingly labored within its halls.

From creation through distribution, 5B immerses itself fully in the city of San Francisco. Priority was placed on authentically shooting contemporary portions of the film inside Ward 5B before it was demolished, as well as in the San Francisco Public Library where the records of those who died in Ward 5B during the AIDS crisis are kept.

The film premiered at the Castro Theater, a location steeped in the rich history of San Francisco’s LGBTQ community and the site of the yearly San Francisco LGBTQ Film Festival.