In Snow Job: The Media Hysteria of AIDS, Barbara Hammer responds to the rising tide of fear, misinformation, and stigma that dominated the early media coverage of the AIDS crisis. Made in 1986, the film is both an emotional outcry and a sharp critique of the way mainstream media, government, and religious institutions distorted the truth about the illness, turning ignorance into public panic and institutionalized homophobia.

Hammer collages multiple media sources to evoke a visual and sonic 'snowstorm' - a barrage of newspaper clippings, headlines, television reports, and radio soundbites layered into a rapid-fire montage. The screen is flooded with fragments of hysteria: alarmist headlines, moralistic rhetoric, and the demonization of queer communities. This storm of misinformation is the ‘snow job’ of the work’s title, a term used to describe a deceptive cover-up or misleading spin. Against this visual cacophony, activist voices do emerge, struggling to cut through the noise with clarity, resistance, and truth. These moments of defiance punctuate the chaos, reminding viewers of the grassroots efforts to counter the dominant narrative and advocate for those affected by AIDS with compassion, dignity, and fact.

Snow Job...captures the emotional toll of the era; rage, grief, and exhaustion while also bearing witness to the resilience of those fighting to reframe the conversation. It is not just a historical document, but a powerful call to examine how media shapes public understanding and enacts violence through misinformation. With urgency and an experimental impulse, Hammer exposes the prejudice lurking beneath the surface of public discourse and transforms found footage into a visceral critique. While never losing sight of her target - however uncomfortable it may be to shine light on such violence - she also creates space within this work that allows glimpses of the courage it took to speak truth amid the storm.