Syndicado acquires, revamps COVID documentary

The Toronto-based distributor is presenting a revamped version of the COVID doc The Curve: 90 Days that Changed America at the American Film Market.

Toronto-based film and TV distributor Syndicado has acquired global rights to The Curve, director Adam Benzine’s investigative doc regarding the handling of the COVID-19 in the U.S.

The feature, which premiered on the eve of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, examines the first 90 days of the COVID-19’s arrival in the U.S., with a close look at the Trump administration’s handling of the crisis. Syndicado is officially launching a 1 x 59-minute “improved and revamped” version of the doc at the American Film Market (AFM) under the name The Curve: 90 Days that Changed America.

“I’ve shied away from acquiring any Covid-related films, whether docs or drama,” said Syndicado president Greg Rubidge in a statement, “until I saw The Curve. Adam’s doc hooked me in its first five minutes, playing out more as an investigative thriller that weaves its unfolding timeline through the political dismissal and mismanagement of the pandemic.”

“I’m thrilled to be working with Greg and the team at Syndicado to launch The Curve globally,” added Benzine. “I had hoped that by fall 2021, this would have become an historical documentary. But with more than 100,000 new COVID cases per day in the U.S. [as of October 25, 2021], it has sadly become more important and more relevant than ever.”

In a separate deal, Israel-based Film Platform has acquired educational rights for the doc.

Benzine, a journalist and former associate editor at Playback’s sister publication Realscreen, also wrote, produced and directed the Oscar-nominated Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah which was acquired by CBC’s documentary channel and HBO in North America.

The story originally appeared in Realscreen