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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Entertainment
Shrai Popat

‘A cash advance on your death’: the strange, morbid world of Aids profiteering

a person in sunglasses standing at a booth for an Aids lifeline program
‘When the government refuses to fulfill its role in taking care of us, we have to come together and find creative ways to take care of each other’ … a still used in Cashing Out. Photograph: New Yorker

During the summer of 2020, at the onset of the Covid pandemic, the documentary director Matt Nadel was back home in Boca Raton, Florida. He remembers one particular evening walk that he took with his father, Phil, as they weathered out those early months.

As they strode through the neighborhood, Nadel, now 26, said that the prospect of a vaccine was exciting, but the idea of pharmaceutical executives profiting off a devastating virus left him feeling uneasy. Phil grew concerned by the complex ethical predicament that his son laid out, and Nadel could quickly tell that his father was acting strangely.

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