Uncle Howard is an intertwining tale of past and present, the story of filmmaker Howard Brookner whose work captured the late 70’ s and early 80’s cultural revolution – and his nephew’s personal journey 25 years later to discover his uncle’s films and the legacy of a life cut short by the plague of AIDS.
Howard Brookner was buried on his thirty-fifth birthday in 1989. He was gay; an Ivy League graduate; broke artist; rising Hollywood star; heroin user; jet-setter; bohemian; seedy nightlife lover; director of cult docs; an honest and devoted friend – he was many things to many people. To director Aaron Brookner, he was a loving and inspirational uncle who died of AIDS when Aaron was only seven, right when Howard was on the brink of a promising filmmaking career.