The documentary Desert Migration spotlights 13 long-term survivors, all men, now living in Palm Springs, California. The movie is “almost a meditation on aging and purpose,” says the film’s director, Daniel F. Cardone, who is HIV positive and moved to the city, known as a gay mecca, in 2010. “I felt like long-term survivors had been marginalized and told, ‘You’ve got your pills; you’re still alive; what more do you want?’” Desert Migration is a chance for these men to tell their histories. What surprised Cardone the most about the stories is “how much grief people had about their experiences. As one of the men says, ‘We went through a holocaust. And we’re meant to put it behind us and pretend it doesn’t exist.’”

For POZ’s in-depth interview with the director and to view a slideshow of the 13 men of Desert Migration, click here.