Frank is a German Luthansa steward who travels the world, taking photos of boys he has sex with — he's a collector. One hot night in his favorite city, Rio de Janeiro, Frank picks up Mario and takes him to his hotel. The morning after, Mario is gone, leaving only a chilling epitaph, written in lipstick, on the bathroom mirror, "Welcome to the AIDS club."

Via Appia begins in Germany as Frank shows the first signs of HIV infection. A friend wants to shoot a documentary about him, so Frank convinces the film crew to go to Rio, in the hopes that he migbt find Mario, the alleged source of his infection. Jose, a handsome young hustler, becomes Frank's guide through bathhouses and beaches — and the Via Appia, a street where male prostitutes openly offer their ser­vices. From Rio to São Paulo, the film takes the viewer into a world of beautiful bodies, sex, money, and mur­der. But it also allows us a closer look at a German man's psyche as he deals with a disease that he knows can kill him.

Although Via Appia plays like a documentary, it is a fiction feature by Jochen Hick, a Hamburg film stu­dent. Originally produced for German television, its controversial sujbect caused the station to preempt its broadcast. Via Appia finally did air in August of 1990.