Zero Patience

Zero Patience
Original theatrical poster
Directed by	John Greyson
Produced by	Alexandra Raffé (executive producer) Louise Garfield Anna Stratton
Written by	John Greyson
Starring	John Robinson Normand Fauteux Dianne Heatherington Richardo Keens-Douglas Michael Callen Marla Lukofsky Von Flores
Music by	Glenn Schellenberg
Cinematography	Miroslaw Baszak
Edited by	Miume Jan
Distributed by	Strand Releasing
Release date	September 11, 1993 (Festival of Festivals)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	English French

Zero Patience: A Musical about AIDS
Soundtrack album by Glenn Schellenberg (music and lyrics) John Greyson (lyrics)
Released	1994
Length	56 minutes
Label	BMG Music
Producer	John Switzer

Zero Patience is a 1993 Canadian musical film written and directed by John Greyson. The film examines and refutes the urban legend of the alleged introduction of HIV to North America by a single individual, Gaëtan Dugas. Dugas, better known as Patient Zero, was tagged in the popular imagination with the blame in large measure because of Randy Shilts's history of the early days of the AIDS epidemic, And the Band Played On (1987). The film tells its story against the backdrop of a romance between a time-displaced Sir Richard Francis Burton and the ghost of "Zero" (the character is not identified by Dugas' name).

Produced in partnership with the Canadian Film Centre, the Canada Council, Telefilm Canada and the Ontario Film Development Corporation, Zero Patience opened to mixed reviews but went on to win a number of prestigious Canadian film awards. The film has been the subject of critical attention in the context of both film theory and queer theory and is considered part of the informal New Queer Cinema movement.

Victorian adventurer and sexologist Sir Richard Francis Burton (John Robinson), following an "unfortunate encounter" with the Fountain of Youth in 1892, is 170 years old and living in Toronto, Canada. Burton, now living and working as the chief taxidermist at a Museum of Natural History, is searching for a centerpiece display for an exhibit in his Hall of Contagion. He comes up with the idea of featuring AIDS and the Patient Zero hypothesis. Accepting the popular belief that Zero introduced the virus to North America, Burton sets out to collect video footage from those who knew Zero to support the hypothesis. When Zero's doctor (Brenda Kamino), mother (Charlotte Boisjoli) and former airline colleague Mary (Dianne Heatherington), who is now with ACT UP, all refuse to demonize Zero, Burton manipulates the footage to make it appear as if they do and includes doctored photographs of Zero showing signs of Kaposi's sarcoma. He presents this preliminary version to the press.