About

Please join the New York City AIDS Memorial and National AIDS Memorial for a free screening of the new short documentary Cashing Out at the LGBT Community Center (208 West 13th Street, Room 301, New York, NY). Cashing Out was a fan favorite at festivals like DOC NYC, Provincetown, and Out on Film, winning both jury and audience awards. The film has qualified for the 2026 Academy Awards and will be released later this year by The New Yorker.

Doors will open at 6 PM for a reception, and the screening will be followed by a Q&A moderated by filmmaker Sian-Pierre Regis.

About the Film

At the height of the AIDS crisis, thousands of queer people sold their life insurance policies to investors for quick cash. A thought-provoking exploration of this billion-dollar "AIDS profiteering" industry, Cashing Out tells the intimate stories of those who fought for dignity as the world around them crumbled—and investigates the filmmaker's unlikely personal connection to this industry.

In the early 1990s, the AIDS epidemic was in its second decade. Unable to work and with few months to live, many people with AIDS negotiated “viatical settlements” to live out their dying days with dignity.

These settlements were simple. People with AIDS sold their life insurance policies to investors and, in exchange, received a portion of their own death benefit upfront. Some used the money for survival, to pay rent or buy medications. Others opted for end-of-life luxury—embarking on lavish trips, buying vacation homes, and starting businesses.

When these patients died, investors received the full value of their policies, often earning healthy profits on a quick turnaround. Cashing Out spotlights the morally complex stories of everyday people pursuing dignity outside the institutions that neglected them—and finding joy on the brink of death. By examining who was and wasn’t able to access that dignity and joy, Cashing Out also connects AIDS history to timely questions around healthcare access, equity, and the social safety net.

About the Filmmaker

Matt Nadel is a documentary filmmaker and journalist based in New York. His films have been distributed by outlets like the New York Times, The New Yorker, and PBS. His most recent documentary, CANS Can’t Stand (The New Yorker 2023), follows a group of Black trans women fighting to repeal Louisiana’s controversial Crime Against Nature by Solicitation (CANS) law. Nominated for a 2024 GLAAD Media Award, CANS Can’t Stand premiered at the Cannes Film Festival Emerging Filmmaker Showcase and screened at film festivals like Outfest (Audience Award), NewFest (Audience Award), Provincetown (Special Jury Prize), Hot Springs, and the New Orleans Film Festival. His forthcoming documentary Cashing Out tells the story of a ghoulish industry that emerged at the height of the AIDS epidemic—and his unlikely connection to it.  He is currently a fellow at the Investigative Reporting Lab at Yale and is also the co-founder of the Advocacy Video Project, an initiative that uses short documentaries to help New Yorkers win fairer criminal-legal outcomes.  He was born and raised in Florida and graduated from Yale with a BA in American Studies.

Location

Support

This screening is presented with the support of the National AIDS Memorial. Support for public programming at the New York City AIDS Memorial is provided, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Film still courtesy of the filmmaker.