Let’s save the world.
Join the movement by watching + listening to the Doin’ My Drugs film and soundtrack.
Now available worldwide!
experience the film
Spin the album
“Doin’ My Drugs” documents the extraordinary life and personal transformation of musician Thomas Muchimba Buttenschøn.
Born in Zambia in 1985 to a Zambian mother and Danish father, Buttenschøn is diagnosed HIV positive as an infant. His parents subsequently learn they are infected. The family moves to Denmark for treatment, but by the time Thomas is nine he’s lost both his mother and father. After becoming deathly ill himself at 13, Buttenschøn begins antiretroviral (ARV) treatment and regains his health. He throws himself into music, becomes a Danish pop star, marries and fathers two sons.
While he is able to live a full and healthy life with the virus, he recognizes that his native Zambia remains trapped in a senseless HIV/AIDS epidemic. The government offers ARV treatment for free, but a staggering 13% of Zambians are infected with HIV and remain untreated. Thomas is inspired to use his music and personal story of survival and triumph to confront the stigma and fight the spread of HIV.
He asks, “Can songs save the world?”
In the west, the AIDS epidemic seems like it’s from another era - a once deadly virus tamed by medical science. But in the developing world, the crisis is far from over.
Over 60% of people living with HIV reside in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Zambia, the official adult HIV prevalence rate is stuck at 13%.
Guilt, shame, and stigma associated with the virus prevent many Zambians from choosing to be tested, so transmission rates remain high and unchecked, and the epidemic rages on.
The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief Initiative targets 2020 as the year where 90% of all people living with HIV will know their status, 90% of all people with diagnosed will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy, and 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.
If this is to be achieved, there is clearly a steep mountain to climb.
The subject of “Doin’ My Drugs,” the film documents Buttenschøn’s rise to activism, as he brings the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS
to the people of his native Zambia.
Maiko Zulu, Sista'D, and Mwiza Zulu are acclaimed Zambian musicians and are passionate human-rights activists. Their work on behalf of exploited children is well known throughout Sub Saharan Africa.
Maiko Zulu serves as Zambia’s Child Ambassador to the United Nations International Labor Organization. He’s been a top-ten Zambian artist for over two decades.
Sista ‘D is Zambia’s leading women’s rights activist. She is well-known around Zambia for her artistry as well as her advocacy efforts.
Mwiza Zulu is quickly building a following in her teen years. A singer, dancer, and writer, Ms. Zulu has set her mind to one-day legislating for child-protection laws throughout Africa.
Maiko, Sista'D, and Mwiza co-wrote “Children of Freedom” with Buttenschøn for the “Doin’ My Drugs” soundtrack.
A groundbreaking Zambian rapper known for his “flow”, Brian Bwembya is a passionate advocate for womens rights. His album “Voiceless Woman” brought national attention to the growing domestic violence problem in Zambia. “Woman” garnered two Zambian Music Awards.
In 2015 B-Flow was selected as the Zambian representative for President Obama’s Young African Leadership Initiative. He also serves as brand ambassador for the AIDS Health Care Foundation (AHF) and USAID-funded SHARE II and is the chairman for the HIV/AIDS and Social Commentary (HASC) team of the Zambia Association of Musicians (ZAM).
B-Flow is featured on Thomas’ track Keep On Talkin’, which will appear on the Doin’ My Drugs soundtrack album.
Simply known as “Danny,” Danny Kaya remains the most popular Zambian musician of the past 20 years.
His ardent HIV/AIDS activism has raised awareness across Zambia but not without controversy.
His song “Yakumbuyo,” concerning homosexuality, raised eyebrows in the conservative political landscape, but resulted in the distribution of condoms in male prisons.
Danny provides vocals in the local Zambian dialect on the title track of the “Doin’ My Drugs” soundtrack.
John Chiti is a hugely popular Zambian musician and activist. The first albino to break through as a leading recording artist, John uses his music to shatter the ignorance, prejudice and violence persecuted against albinos.
Incredibly, many Africans believe that albino body parts can yield riches and magical healing powers. Because of this, they are routinely hunted and killed for their body parts.
Chiti’s NGO, the Zambia Albino Foundation, raises awareness about albinism across Zambia and throughout Africa.
Chiti is featured on the song “London Weather” from the “Doin’ My Drugs” soundtrack.
After connecting with Zambia’s top musician activists, Thomas finds inspiration in their passion to enact social change through music. Together, the musicians write and record an album.
Their collaboration culminates in “Doin’ My Drugs,” the original motion picture soundtrack to the documentary. Recorded in Lusaka and Los Angeles, the album is a powerful, soulful and emotionally-charged expression of Thomas’ fight against the stigma and misinformation surrounding the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
In 2015, Buttenschøn and Rosen founded the Muchimba Music Foundation (MMF), dedicated to creating change and awareness through music.
MMF created a program where residents of Lusaka could receive free tickets to Thomas’s concert if they agreed to an HIV test. MMF subsequently has held Test For Tickets concerts during the past two years in the Zambian capitol of Lusaka, an effort that proved extremely effective in shattering the stigma around testing, and providing treatment to those who test positive.
During MMF’s 2015 campaign, an astounding 10,802 Zambians were tested, and over 1,000 of those testing positive were enrolled into HIV counseling and treatment programs. The Test for Tickets program is already reshaping the conversation Zambians are having about HIV/AIDS.
Our future goal is to expand the Test For Tickets campaign into a countrywide tour, visiting the capitol cities of each of the ten Zambian provinces, in order to reach those most affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Thomas's objective is to test as many Zambians as possible, enroll those who need care into care, and drive down infection rates countrywide. Within the next several years, Test For Tickets will have a significant impact in Zambia, and beyond.
TYLER Q ROSEN DIRECTOR / PRODUCER
A Producer, Director and Production Designer, Rosen’s directorial stylings are best described as being in the Direct Observational Cinema tradition. Tyler strove to make a true rock doc’ focused not only on the important and vital messaging, but on the music. Buttenschøn and Rosen’s long friendship and the experiences they had together with their other friends and musicians in Zambia is what defines this film.
FAX BAHR PRODUCER
Bahr began his career as a documentary filmmaker. He won an Emmy for directing Hearts Of Darkness, A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse. Hearts also won Best Documentary from the National Board of Review. A writer, director, and producer in film and television, Bahr’s TV credits include House of Buggin’, In Living Color, MadTV, Gary & Mike, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, and Chocolate News. His film credits include Bad Grandpa, Son In Law, Malibu’s Most Wanted, and Doin’ My Drugs, premiering March 2019 at CPH:DOX. Bahr volunteers for InsideOUT Writers, teaching creative writing to incarcerated youth in Los Angeles.
URIAH HERR PRODUCER
Uriah is a Director, Producer and Screenwriter who has produced and directed numerous short films, documentaries, music videos and commercials for international brands.
JAY MIRACLE EDITOR
Jay has edited on nearly 40 documentaries, including Carpe Kili, Newman, and 20 Feet From Stardom. Several of the films he edited have gone on to win Academy Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, and Emmys. Jay won a Best Editing Emmy for his work on Hearts Of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.
THOM RUSSO, JR. ALBUM PRODUCER
Thom has been involved in many film and television projects. He participated in the music for Alejandro Inarratu’s film, “Amorres Perros”, along with working on a large variety of films like “Collateral” (by Michael Mann), “Man on Fire”, And “Spider-Man” I and II. Russo has won 16 Grammy Awards for his music production work.
A&U MAGAZINE by Chael Needle
BOSTON GLOBE “Music times two, with Bee Gee hits and hope for Zambia by way of Denmark.”
IRISH FILM CRITIC by Christopher Marroquin
RICH GIRL NETWORK by Simon Cromers
Billboard Magazine: Buttenschøn in China
SCAN Magazine: Buttenschøn Artist Profile
FilmJUICE Review: CPH:DOX 2019
CPH:DOX 2019 with Orca Sound Review
Film Threat Review
IMMIGRANT MAGAZINE by Pamela Anchang
NEW MUSIC BUZZ “Thomas Buttenschøn and Tyler Rosen talks about their movie 'Doin my Drugs’”.
REDDIT: Zambia Hosts World AIDs Day Concert
TIMES OF ZAMBIA: Buttenschøn's Film Is Coming
SUPA JAM: World Aids Day Preview
World AIDS Day 2015: Buttenschøn puts on free concert for HIV
10,000 Zambians test for HIV at the Zed Me Free Concert
BT Interview with Thomas Buttenschøn
Can Songs Save The World? A Documentary Review
NIGHTSIDE PROJECT: Doin' My Drugs
AIDS HEALTH FOUNDATION: "Zed Me Free"
WITH GUITARS Featured Artist: Thomas Buttenschøn
Her er HIV-spørgsmålet, syv ud af otte svarer forkert på (Danish)
