Rob Epstein - Late 1980s

Late 1980s

In 1986, Epstein made an early AIDS documentary for PBS with Peter Adair, titled The AIDS Show, and in 1987, he was a producer/director on a public television series called We The People. This documentary TV series was the first time he worked with editor Jeffrey Friedman. Their sensibilities and creative styles clicked. In 1987, the two formed Telling Pictures, a San Francisco-based production company and set about on their first collaboration which was the HBO documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt founded by Cleve Jones. Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, Common Threads tells the dramatic story of the first decade of AIDS in America through five stories memorialized in the AIDS Quilt. Epstein won his second Academy Award for Documentary Feature with Common Threads, as well as another Peabody. Bobby McFerrin receiving an Emmy for his all-vocal original score.