KILLING PATIENT ZERO to Have World Premiere as a Special Presentation at Hot Docs 2019

Fadoo Productions is pleased to announce that Killing Patient Zero, the documentary about the origins of the AIDS epidemic and the story of Gaetan Dugas, the man who was incorrectly accused of starting it all, written and directed by Laurie Lynd, based on Richard McKay's ground-breaking book, Patient Zero and the Making of the AIDS Epidemic, will have its world premiere as a Special Presentation at Hot Docs 2019.

Killing Patient Zero is produced by Corey Russell (Rush: Time Stands Still, Names on the Cup), and Allan Weinrib (Rush: Time Stands Still, Names on the Cup) of Fadoo Productions, with Christian Medawar (Infiniment Quebec, Les Porteurs d'espoir) and Yves Bisaillon (The Refugees of the Blue Planet, Just Watch Me: Trudeau and the 70's Generation) as Associate Producers and Trevor Birney (Emmy-nominated Elián, No Stone Unturned, Bobby Sands: 66 Days) of Fine Point Films serving as Executive Producer. World sales will be handled by Kew Media Distribution.

In the 1970s, Quebecois flight attendant Gaetan Dugas was one of the first 57 AIDS cases reported to the Center for Disease Control (the CDC) in Atlanta. Unlike the other men on their radar, Dugas, an openly and unashamedly gay man, was able to provide the names of 72 of his former sex partners - and in so doing, landed in the middle of the CDC's famous Cluster Study, where, labelled as Patient O (the letter, 'O' for 'Out of California') he was incorrectly referred to as Patient 0 (zero)- and wrongly accused as being the source of the US outbreak, thanks to San Francisco Chronicle journalist, Randy Shilts' ground-breaking 1987 book on the AIDS epidemic, And The Band Played On. In Shilts' work, Dugas comes across as a psychopath, willfully infecting other gay men.

Director Laurie Lynd conducted 40 interviews with friends and colleagues of both Dugas and Shilts (including Michael Denneny, the late journalist's long-time editor and publisher of Band, who spoke about the responsibility of advancing the Patient Zero story), doctors who were on the front lines of the emerging epidemic (who are characters in Band), as well as epidemiological biologist, Michael Worobey, whose re-examination of an old CDC sample of Dugas' blood that produced startling and irrefutable results. We have also interviewed men and women who lived through that terrible time, most notably, Fran Lebowitz.

"It has been a privilege to tell the story of Gaetan Dugas. In clearing his name, Killing Patient Zeroexposes the virulent homophobia rampant during the worst of the HIV/AIDS crisis. As the author of And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts, said over and over, the AIDS epidemic was allowed to happen because it initially seemed "only" to affect gay men. I hope Killing Patient Zero will help us remember the cost of such prejudice. As a filmmaker, I am deeply grateful to my interview subjects, all of whom spoke to me with remarkable candour. This film is a tribute to them and to all those whose lives have been touched by HIV/AIDS," avowed writer/director Laurie Lynd.

"I've always thought the story of Patient Zero represented so much about truths in popular culture. It is one of the great travesties of the last century. We shame those who challenge our norms and then look for scapegoats when the truth becomes too difficult to manage," said producer Corey Russell.

Cinematography by Paul Steinberg and editing by Trevor Ambrose (Schitt's Creek, Saturday Night Live).

Killing Patient Zero is a Fadoo Production made in association with Fine Point Films and with Kew Media Distribution, Ontario Creates, Hollywood Suite and OutTV.

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