Fig Trees

This original combination of opera and documentary, in which an albino squirrel provides the commentary, tells the story of AIDS activists Tim McCaskell in Toronto and Zackie Achmat in Cape Town, both of whom have been campaigning for freer availability of AIDS drugs for many years. In Canada, McCaskell describes how important drugs are not being released onto the market as they first have to undergo extensive government trials -- even though these same drugs can be freely purchased just over the border in the United States. In South Africa, Achmat reports that a lot of drugs are not available, simply because they are too expensive. As a result, Achmat, who was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1999, refused to take any drugs until they were available to all South Africans. The opera component of consists of an experimental opera about four activists (including McCaskell and Achmat) who have played a prominent role in raising awareness of HIV and AIDS. This is based on the text of Gertrude Stein's avant-garde classic and supplemented by a mixture of surreal decor and costumes, music, poetry, interviews, and news footage. All these elements combine to depict the struggle for lifesaving drugs that are being withheld because of bureaucratic inflexibility or corporate hunger for profits.