(Fig Trees)

Content: FIG TREES is a documentary opera about AIDS activists Tim McCaskell of Toronto and Zackie Achmat of Capetown as they fight for access to treatment drugs. Documentary interviews, speeches, press conferences and demonstrations are sampled, taken apart, and set to music, replayed this time as operatic scenes. A surreal fictional narrative is intercut with the stories of their struggles against government and the pharmaceutical industry. In this fictional world, Gertrude Stein decides to write a tragic opera about Tim and Zackie and their saint-like heroism. She kidnaps them, transports them to Niagara Falls, and forces them to sing a series of complicated avant-garde vocal compositions. However, when Zackie ends his treatment strike and starts taking his pills, Gertrude realizes that there will be no more tragedy, and thus, no more opera.

Countries:

Canada

Genres:

Documentary,

Music

Runtime:

100 minutes

Year:

2009

Directors:

John Greyson

Actors:

Christopher Moraka

Christopher Moraka

Saint Caesura

St. Martin

Nkosi Johnson

Crews:

Musical

Director

Producer

Editor

Production Manager