Killing Patient Zero

"The story of the AIDS epidemic and the man accused of starting it all."

Sep 17 2020 Not Rated 1h 40m
Documentary

After the Stonewall riots and at the height of the gay liberation movement in America, an entire generation were busy celebrating their newfound emancipation, unaware of an impending epidemic. A disease that seemed determined to wipe out an entire generation of gay men, was largely ignored by politicians and the mainstream media. Gaetan Dugas was a French-Canadian flight attendant, who offered to help early scientific research into the origins of AIDS. An unfortunate series of events followed and he would be vilified as Patient Zero, the man who gave us AIDS.

Official Trailer
Plot

Gaetan Dugas, who grew up in Quebec City, was a Quebec flight attendant, who was openly and proudly gay, and he liked to wear makeup. In the early 1980s after he contracted what was initially called "gay cancer" in the media, he provided his blood samples and the names of seventy two (72) of his former sex partners. Gaetan Dugas was initially demonized because of his promiscuity, being openly gay, and he was wrongfully identified as patient zero, therefore being wrongfully identified for quite some time as the initial person responsible for introducing the AIDS virus into North America. Dugas's assistance with a subsequent medical study and his providing his sexual history played a key role in contributing to a study that helped prove HIV/AIDS was sexually transmitted.

Written by

Laurie Lynd, Richard A. McKay

Directed by

Laurie Lynd

Cast

Richard Berkowitz, Richard Bisson, Anita Bryant

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

Canada

Production Companies

Fadoo Productions

Languages

Français, English

Awards

3 nominations

Trailers
Killing Patient Zero - OFFICIAL Trailer
Scores
# of Votes
418
Average Rating
7.5 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA