Fire in the Blood (2013)

Fire in the Blood is an internationally acclaimed 2013 documentary by Dylan Mohan Gray depicting the mass devastation brought about in Africa, Asia and other parts the global South due to intentional obstruction of low-cost antiretroviral drugs used for treatment of HIV/AIDS from reaching people in these countries, spearheaded by Western pharmaceutical companies armed with patent monopolies and the governments (above all those of the United States, European Union and Switzerland) doing their bidding. The documentary also shows how the battle against this blockade, estimated to have resulted in ten- to twelve million unnecessary deaths, was fought and (at least for the time being) won.

Fire in the Blood features contributions from former US President Bill Clinton, intellectual property activist James Love, global health reporter Donald McNeil, Jr. of The New York Times, HIV/AIDS treatment activist Zackie Achmat, pioneering generic drugmaker Yusuf Hamied, former Pfizer executive-turned-whistleblower Peter Rost, Ugandan AIDS physician Peter Mugyenyi, and Nobel Prize-laureates Desmond Tutu and Joseph Stiglitz.

The film is narrated by Academy-Award winning actor William Hurt, who lent his voice to the film on a pro bono basis because he felt the story and subject matter were so important.

In November 2013, Fire in the Blood set a new all-time record for the longest theatrical run by any non-fiction feature film in Indian history (five weeks).

It is the first Indian non-fiction feature to be theatrically released in either the US or the UK.

Synopsis

The film is set in the late 90s and early 2000s. The director describes how protective patent laws enabled Western pharmaceutical companies to make antiretroviral drugs so costly that only the rich could afford them. This action claimed the lives of more than ten million AIDS sufferers in Africa and the global south.

Actors