It's April, 1996. Pablo is an HIV-positive writer living in Buenos Aires. Though the then-new anti-retroviral cocktail therapy is showing promise, Pablo worries that this and other therapies could be lethal. Living with his slightly confused aunt, Pablo earns a meager living teaching French. He meets his father in a restaurant once a month to collect a check and listen to mundane chitchat about his father's job.

In a desire to ease both his physical and emotional suffering, Pablo sets off in search of what may be his last great love. He composes personal ads asking for someone to "take me as slave or master," and cruises the bars and porn theaters of Buenos Aires' gay scene. When he falls in with a group of men into bondage, Pablo discovers a new way to transform the pain of his disease into an extreme form of pleasure.

The winner of this year's Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, A Year Without Love was cited "for an uncompromising densely textured portrayal of one man dealing with loneliness and AIDS that will challenge audiences." As Variety notes, the bondage sequences "will have the desired effect, both on fans and opponents."

Aided by lead actor Juan Minujín, who infuses Pablo with a quiet dignity, director Anahí Berneri presents a solid and forceful portrait of a gay man in search of human warmth and a cure.