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, where it won both the 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 brief reception and the screening will be followed by a Q&A.

About the Film

Cashing Out
40 min. | dir. Matt Nadel

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.