Fire in the Blood at Greenwich Picturehouse

Fire in the Blood examines the battle that a number of inspiring players – including the government of India - waged to level the playing field for AIDs sufferers. Success would mean overcoming the will of the powerful pharmaceutical industry, determined to maximise its profits at all cost. In an ideal world, the medical breakthrough of ARV drugs in the mid 1990s – which meant that AIDs no longer carried with it a death sentence – would have meant the end of deaths from the virus. Instead what ensued was a shocking crisis of humanity, as Africans continued to die by the millions, unable to afford the astronomically high price of these drugs. The film features interviews with campaigners, including Bill Clinton and Desmond Tutu. The documentary aims to shed light on the aggressiveness of the drugs industry in preventing the distribution of readily available low-cost drugs, and the profoundly restricting patent laws, which prevent countries from providing their own treatment.