2013 84 min (full) & 60 min (abridged) 1-932869-88-3 This film has subtitles English

Fire in the Blood

A Tale of Medicine, Monopoly & Malice

or

Synopsis

Fire in the Blood tells the shocking story of how Western pharmaceutical companies and governments blocked access to low-cost AIDS drugs in Africa and the global south in the 1990s, leading to the preventable deaths of at least ten million people. Shot on four continents and featuring contributions from global figures such as Bill Clinton, Desmond Tutu, and Joseph Stiglitz, the film takes us inside the lethal decision-making process that led to this humanitarian catastrophe. And it shows how millions more people would have died if not for the passion and tactical ingenuity of a group of courageous and relentless activists. The result is a gripping look at corporate greed and government collusion, the cutthroat economics of medicine and healthcare, and the power of ordinary people to make meaningful change on a global scale. Fire in the Blood is essential viewing for anyone concerned about the pharmaceutical industry's ongoing effort to enforce inhumane patent polices in developing nations.

Includes the feature length documentary, as well as an abridged version shortened for use in the classroom.

Please note: This film does not come with Public Performance Rights. If you wish to do a screening outside of a face-to-face classroom setting, please contact us.

Release Date:2013
Duration:84 min (full) & 60 min (abridged)
ISBN:1-932869-88-3
Subtitles:English

Trailers

Watch the trailer

Filmmaker Credits

A Sparkwater India Production
Director, Producer, Writer, Editor:
Dylan Mohan Gray
Executive Producer:
Christopher Hird
Director of Photography:
Jay Odedra
Supervising Editor:
Christopher Seward
Composer:
Ashutosh Phatak
Sound Design:
Kunal Sharma

Film Festivals

Daedalus Film Festival
Ashland
US
Internazionale a Ferrara
Italy
Festival Internacional de Cine de Derechos Humanos (International Human Rights Film Festival)
Buenos Aires
Argentina
Bermuda Docs
Bermuda
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
Greece
World Community Film Festival
Courtney
Canada

Conference Screenings

American Sociological Association Conference, Chicago

Awards

Winner of the Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari Award for Best Debut Film of a Director, Mumbai Film Festival, India

Resources: Downloads and Related Links

Downloads:

Praise

"It is a sobering example of how neoliberalism and trade pacts can compromise health and welfare -- a must watch for students, researchers and practitioners interested in the political economy of health."
Emmanuel Koku
Associate Professor of Communication Interim Director of Africana Studies at Drexel University
"Fire in the Blood tells the powerful -- but far too little known -- story of how a small group of international activists defied the global pharmaceutical industry to secure access to HIV medications throughout the developing world. This wide-ranging documentary includes the voices of top officials such as Bill Clinton but also profiles doctors, protestors, people living with HIV/AIDS, and others at the grassroots. Fire in the Blood presents a compelling vision of access to life-saving medications as a form of basic human rights, but it also offers a timely warning not to take such access for granted and to continue the struggle for universal healthcare."
Raymond A. Smith
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Political Science at Columbia University NYU
Co-author of Drugs Into Bodies: Global AIDS Treatment Activism
"My undergraduate health class will be watching this film. It's a brilliant exposé of how pharmaceuticals put profit before life, and an equally breathtaking account of how poor people successfully challenge this mighty industry. In an age of neoliberal cynicism, the film shows how ordinary people can and must stand up against corporate bullies to rebalance the scales of global health. Let the world see how greedy pharmaceutical companies manipulate prices and then use 'market freedom' as an alibi for poor people's deaths."
Mark Hunter
Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Toronto - Scarborough
Author of Love in The Time of AIDS: Inequality, Gender, and Rights in South Africa
"a blessing... full of conviction, passion and unanswerable argument."
John Le Carré
"Maximize the people's health or maximize private profits? Prioritize patents or prioritize patients? These are the fundamental questions that Fire in the Blood, a sobering documentary, critically calls. Through its politically astute and historically informed analysis of pharmaceutical companies' cupidity and the activism and outrage required to make drugs for HIV/AIDS affordable in the Global South, the film captures a history and on-going struggle that must be widely known, never forgotten, and fearlessly exposed."
Nancy Krieger
Professor of Social Epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health
Author of Epidemiology and the People's Health: Theory and Context
"This is a compelling and thought provoking film that should be compulsory viewing for everyone with an interest in development and global justice. Fire in the Blood is a much needed clarion call, issued in response to a steadily evolving global intellectual property regime which seeks to privilege the requirements of drug companies above those in need of treatment. It is also a call to activism that we should all embrace."
Adrian Flint
Senior Lecturer in Development Politics at the University of Bristol
“Fire in the Blood serves not only as a reminder of the crucial struggle for access to HIV drugs for millions of people in developing countries, but as a wake-up call for us all to keep resisting efforts by the pharmaceutical industry and some governments to cut off people’s lifelines to needed medicines.”
Dr. Gilles van Cutsem
Médecins Sans Frontières South Africa (MSF SA)
"Fire in the Blood is a searing look at the politics and prejudices behind global HIV treatment access, and a testament to the work of activists and advocates who persist in their efforts to secure medications for the poor. This film's unflinching examination of patent law, corporate power, and the complex role played by the U.S. government in alternately endorsing and thwarting global antiretroviral access make it required viewing for students and practitioners of global health."
Johanna Crane
Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts Sciences
University of Washington - Bothell
"a riveting documentary... dramatic, compelling, but most of all, wonderfully humane. I was enraged as I watched..."
Stephen Lewis
"Fire in the Blood is a fascinating documentary that weaves a compelling story of how people in poor developing countries gained access to AIDS drugs through a collage of historical footage, images, and interviews with key actors. The documentary brings the story to life in a fashion that will make it a great resource for classes on HIV/AIDS, health, politics, activism, and social justice. It is sure to provoke debate and remind students and others of the power of the poor and the ordinary to bring about change that saves lives."
Sanyu Mojola
Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado - Boulder

Press Reviews

Ann Lee, Metro
“Fire In The Blood will fuel anger in your veins”
Tim Brandon, Mild Concern
“a roaring success... Engrossing and important Fire in the Blood needs to be seen by as many people as possible -- ★★★★★ (5 stars)”
Siji Jabbar,This is Africa
“when filmmaker Dylan Gray says Fire in the Blood is about one of the greatest crimes in human history, it's hard to disagree. [...] I promise you, this documentary will make you really, really angry, but it'll also give you hope [...] The facts of the story are astonishing, and the documentary is intelligent and thought-provoking”
Helen Earnshaw, Female First
"If there is one documentary that you watch at the beginning of 2013 then make sure that it is Fire in the Blood [...] incredibly captivating" "This is such a wonderful movie from start to finish... an incredibly moving documentary that will hook you from the opening scenes to the closing credits."
British Medical Journal (BMJ)
"hard-hitting... systematically exposes how patents enabled Western pharma corporations to increase their profits while millions of people in the developing world lost their lives." "A must see for the medical community, especially in India."
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
"indispensable viewing... extremely moving... a powerful documentary that demands to be seen by as wide an audience as possible" "This is a shocking account of international trade terrorism sanctioned by Western governments."
Jeremy Aspinall, BBC Radio Times
"incisive and damning... the film is utterly absorbing and impossible to forget -- ★★★★ (4 stars)"
Kevin Knapman, Film Pilgrim
”An unbelievable and shocking tale... powerful and anger-inducing”
Mark Adams, Screen International
"Fire in the Blood quite simply makes for stark, sobering, moving and ultimately shocking viewing." "Dylan Mohan Gray's impressive film... hits all the right notes - intellectually and emotionally"
David Parkinson, Oxford Times/Oxford Mail
"righteously furious, meticulously compiled and impassionedly eloquent... a film of great intellectual and emotional integrity that achieves everything it sets out to do"
Rosalie Tostevin, The Guardian
"hard hitting... enlightening... essential"
Daphne Howland, The Village Voice and LA Weekly
"exquisite and unsparing... Fire in the Blood is artful in nearly every frame, perhaps so we don't avert our eyes."
Paul Risker, Flickering Myth
“a compelling and provocative piece of filmmaking -- ★★★★ (4 stars)”
David Parkinson, Empire
"A film to provoke fury... it's the arrogance and greed of the drug tycoons that leaves a lingering impression, as they conspired to allow ten million to die simply so that they could maximise their profits -- ★★★★ (4 stars)"
John Pilger
"Fire in the Blood is one of the most powerful, important and humane documentaries I have ever seen. It's the story of ordinary people standing up to unaccountable power. The struggle to save millions from the ravages of untreated HIV is revealed as a struggle against the new lords of the world, transnational corporations, their greed and lies. Genuine hope is rare these days -- you'll find it in this film."
Maria Duarte, Morning Star
“powerful and shocking... a film which will provoke fury and dismay.”
Guy Lodge, Variety
"[This] impassioned, persuasive film won't have trouble spreading its essential message across the fest circuit and beyond... rivetingly researched [and] with wholly universal appeal"
Edward Porter, The Sunday Times
"authoritative... the film makes a damning case -- ★★★★ (4 stars)"
The Herald (Scotland)
“Gray's justifiably hard-hitting documentary unscrews the cap on a very modern scandal -- ★★★★ (4 stars)”
Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film
“forthright and shocking -- ★★★★ ½ (4.5 stars)”
Zoe Ball, BBC Radio
"Brilliant... a real-life David and Goliath story... an amazing documentary and a story that really needed to be told"
Geeta Anand, The Wall Street Journal
"hard-hitting... powerfully cinematic... a story vitally important for the world to remember -- and learn from."
Stephanie Bartlett, The Lancet
"a powerful exposé… a David versus Goliath tale of how an unlikely coalition of people worldwide joined forces to fight against the patent monopolies of the world's biggest pharmaceutical conglomerates"
Chris Bell, Subba-cultcha
“wonderfully moving and powerful... Fire in the Blood is absolutely essential viewing. 9/10”
Shelley Marsden, Filmjuice
“an epic piece of work”
Donald Clarke, The Irish Times
“makes its case with cold, irrefutable logic...only an unthinking monster could leave the cinema unmoved and unenlightened -- ★★★★ (4 stars)”
Debbie Sims, Lost in the Multiplex
“powerful and sobering -- ★★★★ (4 stars)”
Samira Ahmed, BBC World "The Strand"
“extraordinary... a documentary that’s made like a crime thriller” "Fire in the Blood is in the great tradition of powerful documentary films that challenge globalised corporate culture"
Derek Malcolm, Evening Standard
“needs to be told again and again. And Gray does so with furious zeal. -- ★★★★ (4 stars)”
Pearse Connery, Hi! Magazine
“The fact that the press screening ended with a standing ovation is a testament to the effect it had on us as an audience. [...] a masterpiece of documentary film-making -- ★★★★★ (5 stars)”
Tom Roston, PBS Doc Soup
"the one film that I'd put to the top of your must-see list is Fire in the Blood... you will be moved and enraged... a beautiful film to watch."
Allan Hunter, Daily Express
“WHY are tales of corporate greed still so surprising? We should know better by now but Fire In The Blood still has the power to shock and outrage. -- ★★★★ (4 stars)”
Philip French, The Observer/The Guardian
"quietly devastating... a testament to human decency and a damning indictment of laissez-faire capitalism."
Gavin Burke, Entertainment Ireland
"this documentary stirs the ire. [...] It beggars belief. It really does. -- ★★★★ (4 stars)"
London City Nights
“Fire in the Blood is one of the clearest political arguments I've seen in a long time, but thankfully it works as a piece of cinema too. … beautiful... ★★★★★ (5 stars)”
Benedict Lam, The Pharmaceutical Journal/Royal Pharmaceutical Society
"Be prepared to be sad, angry and even outraged when you see this film... I could not help but feel my blood boil by the end of it."
George Bass, Total Film
“shocking and substantial -- ★★★★” (4 stars)"
Halea Isabelle Kala, Mouth London
“a spellbinding documentary -- ★★★★1/2 (4.5 stars)”
Miriam Bale, The New York Times
"Moving documentary on an urgent and shameful subject"
Contactmusic
“a moving and intense historical documentary”
Alastair McCready, Celluloid Heroes
"a powerful, heartfelt and edifying debut offering from Dylan Mohan Gray -- ★★★★ (4 stars)"
Ashley Clark, Sight Sound
“an impassioned and informative account... likely to provoke a substantial reaction in anyone who sees it... it's not just a success, but a stirring tribute to the countless people who have lost their lives when such a fate was avoidable."
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon
"PICK OF THE WEEK -- A devastating new film explores the lies, greed and indifference that killed millions in Africa" "Essential... shattering... eye-opening and often chilling"
Virgin Media
"a truly shocking documentary... powerful... demands the attention from as many people as possible"
Exposed Magazine
"I could write a thousand words about the plot, detailing every interview; however the strength of the film is the experience of it. [...] This is documentary film making as it is supposed to be done."
Naila Scargill, Trebuchet Magazine
"An essential watch"
Nia Childs, Fan Carpet
"a film that will stop you dead in your tracks... simply essential -- ★★★★ (4 stars)”
Neil White, Every Film
“fascinating yet frightening... I defy anyone who watches it not to be touched by the power of the human spirit -- 9/10”
Tony Gilchrist,
“hugely important”
Karin Badt, The Huffington Post
"the film is exceptionally impactful... heart-rending... a suspense drama"
Derek Parkinson, Close-up Film
“powerful and interesting"
Dan Carrier, Camden Review
“brilliant and fascinating... would make a great Hollywood blockbusting thriller”
Paddy Kehoe, RTE (Irish national broadcaster)
“may make your blood boil, or even put fire in your blood -- ★★★★ (4 stars)”
Shortlist
"affecting, controversial subject matter... shocking, informative and moving"
Steve Clarke, Flush Magazine
“a phenomenally fascinating tale... The documentary is a credit to everyone involved on any level.. it’s about all of us, everywhere, now. -- 10/10”
Emma Cooper, The Upcoming
“an astonishingly strong and important debut film... essential viewing -- ★★★★★ (5 stars)”
Rebecca Ellis, Little White Lies
“startling”
Lucy Cave, The Hollywood News
"incredibly special... one of the most important documentaries of the last 10 years -- ★★★★★ (5 stars)”
Alexandra Zeevalkink, DocGeeks
"a story of hope and a long overdue victory in a struggle for equality and basic human rights"
Trevor Johnston, Timeout
“as a study in human greed this is shocking... it never loses sight of the individual suffering and courage which makes the story so significant.”
Mark Bell, Film Threat
"an emotional rollercoaster... there are moments of great triumph, humanity, hope, sadness, disgust and disbelief. There are very real heroes and villains. [...] Watch the film if and when you can -- ★★★★1/2 (4.5 stars out of 5)"
Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman
”insightful and quietly angry -- ★★★★ (4 stars)”
Tim Isaac, Movie Muser
“bound to promote fury among many viewers who'll barely be able to believe the story” “A powerful look at a terrible injustice -- ★★★★ (4 stars)”
Rochelle Burgess, Global Policy
"powerful... unsettling... emotionally charged"
Ray Thompson, Best for Film
"I rarely weep at the cinema... but I did last night. [...] The courage and determination of those who reacted with their human moral impulse in a situation where others seemed to be able to disable theirs was presented by Dylan Mohan Gray in a way that rejected sentimentalism in favour of the simplicity of normal human emotion. I’m very grateful to have seen this important film and hope that many others will do so." ★★★★★ (5 stars)
Kate Muir, The Times
"A shocking documentary about how big Western pharmaceutical companies blocked access to low-cost anti-AIDS drugs, causing a holocaust of 10 million deaths. Desmond Tutu, Bill Clinton and many brave activists speak out... CRITIC'S CHOICE -- ★★★★ (4 stars)"
Oliver Charles, Front Row Reviews
“so important and so powerful that you forget for a moment that you are watching this on your screen… affecting on so many levels… beautifully compiled... the audience [is] gripped from the opening minutes until the very end. -- ★★★★ (4 stars)”
Ivan Radford, I-Flicks
“it shocks, it informs, it provokes and it grips... Fire in the Blood burrows deep – and sets your blood boiling. Go see it -- ★★★★ (4 stars)

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