In this searing indictment of responses by the pharmaceutical companies and the South African government to the AIDS pandemic, producer/director Elaine Epstein, a native South African who has worked extensively in AIDS and public health, offers a unique insider's view of the complex forces driving the disease's spread—and the debate around it—in South Africa. State of Denial gives moving testimony to the harsh realities of the AIDS epidemic, global healthcare inequities, and the political and economic interests that are denying millions of people around the world access to life-saving therapies.

Thabo, Thabiso, and Moalusi are young, urban Basotho men on a mission. They travel with a mobile cinema unit through the mountains of Lesotho, screening their film to very remote communities. In a country where almost a third of the people are HIV-positive, they are the nucleus of a tiny group who are living openly with the virus. They are pioneers and publicly declare their HIV–positive status. They are also film stars and are attractive to women. The three young men open up in a way seldom seen on screen, and this film gets to the heart of their lives and dilemmas.