Travis

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Tuesday, April 14 at 7:00: The screening will be followed by an on-stage conversation with editor Jean Tsien and a very, very special guest

DOC NYC 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award winner Jean Tsien co-presents a rare theatrical retrospective screening of Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Richard Kotuk’s TRAVIS, which won a posthumous Peabody Award for Kotuk in 1998.  TRAVIS is one of Jean Tsien’s first-ever career editing credits.
In the mid-1990s, six-year-old South Bronx resident Travis Jefferies, born HIV+,  displays a strong spirit, generous smile, and outgoing personality.

In the care of his doting grandmother Geneva, Travis navigates physical discomfort and social isolation as his disease progresses – yet his joyful spark does not diminish.

Richard Kotuk met Travis in the very early days of experimental drug therapies and captured the remarkable transformation of Travis’s health, and with it, a pivotal tide-turning moment in the historical fight against AIDS. As Travis’s remarkable force-of-personality leads the way into a future that was once never thought to be possible, TRAVIS allows us to remember that glorious moment of new hope and a path away from the worst of the AIDS nightmare.  

DOC NYC Selects: Spring 2026 is co-presented by MUBI
Screening as part of DOC NYC Selects Spring 2026

  • Country USA
  • Year 1997
  • Running Time 57 minutes
  • Format DCP
  • Distributor DOC NYC Selects
  • Director Richard Kotuk
  • Cast Travis Jefferies, Geneva Jefferies, Ilene Rabinowitz, Lourdes Rodriguez, Susan Spadafora, Travis Jefferies, Geneva Jefferies, Ilene Rabinowitz, Lourdes, Susan Spadafora
  • Accessibility Assistive Listening, T-Coil

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.