LOGLINE
At the onset of the AIDS crisis, a painfully introverted doctor and her physician assistant battle the indifference and outright hostility of the medical establishment, the Mormon Church, and the community at large to bring medical care and hope to suffering patients. The true story of the only doctor in the entire state of Utah willing to treat HIV/AIDS patients — and the saga of her own touching journey to self-acceptance.
Based on the Emmy Award®-winning documentary, QUIET HEROES.
THE STORY
The Extraordinary Courage of Ordinary People
On June 5, 1981 — the very day the CDC identifies the disease that will one day become known as AIDS — Kristen Ries arrives in Salt Lake City. It’s a place with the feel of a small town from another time: quiet, conventional, and wholly dominated by the ultra-conservative Mormon Church.
An infectious disease doctor at an HMO, Kristen is intrigued by the rise of this rare and mysterious new illness. But as Kristen’s potential patients keep multiplying, it becomes apparent that the disease is prevalent among the gay community, and her employer’s attitude towards treating them turns from indifference to outright hostility.
When her boss demands that Kristen turn away these patients, she quits. Ignored by the Utah Department of Health, and desperate to find somewhere to treat the people coming to her, Kristen turns to a most improbable source of help: the Holy Cross Hospital.
To her surprise, the Catholic nuns running the hospital become her wholehearted allies. Without judgment or proselytizing, they do all in their power to help the (mostly) men live out their final days to the fullest. And when Kristen is unable to recruit another doctor to help with the patients, she convinces a nurse, Maggie Snyder, to train as a physician assistant.
Ebullient and irrepressible, Maggie left the closet long ago. In other words, she’s the complete opposite of the awkward, introverted — and repressed — Kristen.
As Kristen and Maggie’s personal and professional lives grow ever closer, Kristen struggles with her two worlds: dealing with the extraordinary burden of caring for so many dying patients and coping with her own internalized homophobia.
As the AIDS crisis intensifies in Salt Lake, it is met by fear and backlash from the
religious and medical communities, inaction from the public health apparatus, and foot-dragging from insurance companies. Yet Kristen and Maggie are steadfast in continuing to care for the patients, often at great cost to their own well-being.
Against the backdrop of Kristen and Maggie’s personal story, we also meet others who populated the terrifying world of America’s AIDS crisis in the ‘80s and ‘90s. The unlikely allies who rose to the cause. The medical and political establishment that often provided an entirely ineffective and underwhelming response. And the community at large that frequently saw AIDS as retribution for people who “brought it on themselves.”
And we get to know the patients themselves, ranging from those who embraced their sexuality and worked tirelessly to help their fellow sufferers, to the Mormon men taught by their church that the only way to be “cured” of their homosexuality was to marry and raise a family… and ended up bringing the disease into their own homes.
KRISTEN + MAGGIE is the true story of two women who battled through the AIDS epidemic to save as many people as they could. With honesty, humor, and compassion, KRISTEN + MAGGIE reminds us that sometimes the greatest heroes are the ones who simply refuse to give up.
Characters
Dr. Kristen Ries
(30s-40s)
Dr. Kristen Ries, an infectious disease doctor in her 30s-40s, moved to Salt Lake City just before the AIDS crisis began. As the only doctor in Utah willing to treat HIV/AIDS patients, the introverted Kristen was thrust into the unlikely role of physician, advocate, and spokesperson. While fiercely battling for resources for her patients, she also had to confront her own personal struggles, including her repressed sexuality and internalized homophobia.
Maggie Synder
(20S-30S)
Maggie Snyder (20s-30s) [real] – A nurse with high standards, a penchant for new challenges, and a mischievous streak a mile wide. Maggie is recruited by Kristen to train as a physician assistant in order to help provide care for the ever-increasing number of AIDS patients at their door. As the two women work together around the clock, the lines between their work and personal lives begin to blur.
Peter Christie
(20s-30s)
Peter Christie (20s-30s) [real] – A ballet dancer in his prime who embraces the lifestyle of being young, beautiful, and sexually liberated at a time when the risks seem nonexistent. Sociable and spirited, Peter gets involved in educating others about the crisis, but falls deeply into denial once he starts to show symptoms himself.
Sheneka
(30s-40s)
Sheneka (30s-40s) [real] – A Black drag queen (“boy name,” Ralph). Beautiful, flirtatious and fearless. She inspires her friend Peter to go after what he wants and not care so much about what others think. Together, they team up to educate others about safe sex.
Sister Joan
(30s-40s)
Sister Joan (30s-40s) [real] – The head nun at Holy Cross Hospital, she understands what it means to be a true Christian. Without hesitation, she opens the Med III unit at the hospital, exclusively to treat AIDS patients. Forthright and no-nonsense, she fights bureaucracy and underfunding to provide all her patients with not just medical care, but dignity and compassion.
Dale Dixon
(40s-50s)
Dale Dixon (40s-50s) [based on a real peson] – The state epidemiologist at the Utah Health Department, he is slow to react to the arrival of HIV in Utah, and refuses to recognize it as a genuine health crisis. He seems to echo the general opinion of the community and the LDS Church: that this is a disease the gay community brought upon themselves.
Mark Jensen
(20s-30s)
Mark Jensen (20s-30s) [based on a real person] – An airline pilot living a double life: devout Mormon husband and father – and gay man having anonymous sex with strangers. Mark struggles painfully to reconcile his faith with his needs, and to balance his commitments to his family with his own self-identity. Ultimately, he finds there’s a heavy price to pay for forcing himself to be something — and someone — he’s not.
Sandra Jensen
(20s-30s)
Sandra Jensen (20s-30s) [based on a real person] – Mark’s wife, a devout Mormon, and herself a nurse. She’s concerned by her husband’s lack of interest in her, and suspects him of being unfaithful… but with women. Ultimately, she is forced to confront the truth when she herself tests positive for HIV.
Joe Munsey
(20s-30s)
Joe Munsey (20s-30s) [real] – Gregarious and gay, Joe’s got an Appalachian twang, a quick wit, and a genuine delight in making homophobes squirm with his sexual humor. He’s also the first patient Kristen sees whom she suspects might have this puzzling new disease. Despite his grim diagnosis and eventual turn to drugs to help him cope, Joe’s innate generosity means he’s determined to help others to fight their way through.
Jim Dabakis
(20s-30s)
Jim Dabakis (20s-30s) [real] – We first meet Jim as he's seeking medical care for his dear friend suffering from advanced AIDS, Tim Hoover. After being turned away from every other hospital in the city, Dr. Ries offers to take Tim in at Holy Cross. Jim later channels his anger as a political activist and radio show host, and eventually gets elected to the Utah State Senate.
KEY BIOS
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Jared Ruga
Producer
Jared Ruga is an Emmy®-winning and GLAAD-nominated filmmaker whose work fuses zeitgeisty stories with a social lens. His connection to the life stories of Kristen Ries and Maggie Snyder is deeply personal: Dr. Kristen Ries once saved his grandmother’s life by correctly diagnosing an infection another physician had mis-treated. Growing up gay in Salt Lake City—a decade after Utah’s AIDS crisis—Jared often reflected that, had he been born earlier, he might have been one of Kristen’s patients. That realization inspired him to conceive, direct, and produce QUIET HEROES, the Sundance-premiering documentary honoring Kristen and her partner Maggie Snyder. As CEO of Vavani Productions, Jared leads an ethos-driven studio dedicated to storytelling for social good—and extends that mission into real-world change as President of the Impact Guild. A creative polymath with JD, MBA, and MFA degrees, he’s a Swiss Army knife of entertainment: integrating art and commerce without compromising integrity. With Kristen + Maggie, he returns to their story through a narrative lens: an intimate love story rooted in compassion, courage, and the quiet revolution of choosing care over fear.
Jo Agricola
Writer
Jo is a screenwriter, script consultant, and instructor who grew up in a small hippy town in Northern California. After getting a degree in Economics and working in finance in San Francisco, she had a quarter-life crisis and moved to Utah for film school, where she earned an MFA in Film & Media Arts from the University of Utah and volunteered at and worked for the Sundance Film Festival. She loves writing the types of films that she enjoys watching: psychological thrillers with complex female leads and unexpected twists, with the occasional biopic thrown in for good measure. Jo is a mom of two boys, both of whom starred in CLICKER, a short film that she wrote, which premiered at the Catalina Film festival and was inspired by her eldest son’s nightmare.