The Legacy of Resistance is a 28-minute documentary film that explores the history of the global AIDS response through key moments in time—focusing on seven International AIDS Conferences. It is bookended by the IAC conferences held in Montréal, Québec, Canada, in 1989 and 2022. The Legacy of Resistance surveys this history, especially focusing on the role of activism in the unprecedented successes of the global pandemic response. The film uses a combination of interviews, narration and vibrant pictorial display of AIDS activism over time. It examines how community activists became a key component of the response and how many researchers, policy makers, and health providers became activists in the response. It follows how communities demanded and got a place at policy-decision tables and how community experience became an integral part of evidence-based responses. Activism became key to improved multi-sectoral collaboration, effective programming, resource mobilization, and finally improved health outcomes and lives saved. It outlines current challenges, calls for a renewed activism, and provides a historical background to the theme of AIDS 2026: Rethink, Rebuild and Rise. Persons appearing in the film come from research, health provision, and communities from around the globe involved in the response. They not only discuss moments in time but also lay out where we are today and where we need to focus future endeavours. The Legacy of Resistance is available in English, French and Spanish versions (the latter with interview subtitles).