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.

While there are many ways to weave a tale, the cinematic story of 5B is told through the prism of the people who lived through it. To tell a big and sprawling story that weaves the personal recollections of the nurses, caretakers, patients and loved ones into the fabric of the larger sociopolitical maelstrom surrounding the AIDS epidemic in the United States took a deft touch that guides the audience on a journey whereby they experience the unfolding narrative through the central players before expanding out to the larger culture.

The skillful blending of 16 principal interviews with recovered archival footage creates an immersive, all-consuming feeling. Yet, for the effect to resonate and to create a true sense of “being-there,” scenes had to have the room to breathe; to rise and fall as various narrative strands come together to create a full picture of hope in the face of despair.