Undetectable is a feature documentary, following for three years six Boston residents on the new multi-drug therapies for HIV disease. The film examines the complex physical and psychological effects of the treatment on three women and three men of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and the importance of AIDS education and advocacy within both the gay and poor and minority communities. It was broadcast on PBS, Independent Lens.

Undetectable looks to the next stage of the AIDS crisis: how many of those affected deal for the first time with hope, and how the fortunate number who respond to the drugs face both a grueling treatment regimen and the challenge of rebuilding their lives during a reprieve from what was formerly a death sentence. For many there are devastating side effects; a third cope with the desperation and frustration that accompanies the lack of any response.

Above all, the film looks to the changing face of the epidemic, posing difficult questions about the readiness of both the AIDS support community and the unaffected larger world to contend with the changing demographics of the disease. For the first time since the beginning of the U.S. epidemic, the number of new cases among Blacks and Hispanics have surpassed that among Whites. Coinciding with the appearance of the expensive new therapies, this development suggests that the politics of AIDS will be more and more racially and ethnically charged.

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