After its world premiere in the Official Selection – Out of Competition at the Venice International Film Festival of the Biennale di Venezia 2019, collective had its North American premiere at TIFF (Toronto) and was sold by Cinephile to North America, France, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.
The film was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the One World International Human Rights FF, the Golden Eye at the Zurich FF, the Don Quixote Award at the Tromsø IFF, the Documentary Award at the Luxembourg City FF, the Special Jury Award in the Documentary International Competition of the Sofia IFF, the Grand Prix Documentary at the Minsk IFF, among others.
In 2015, a fire at Bucharest's Colectiv club left 27 dead and 180 injured. Soon, more burn victims begin dying in hospitals from wounds that were not life-threatening. Then a doctor blows the whistle to a team of investigative journalists from a sports daily, Gazeta Sporturilor. One revelation leads to another as the journalists start to uncover a vast health care fraud. Following journalists, whistle-blowers, burn victims, and government officials, collective is an uncompromising look at the impact of investigative journalism at its best.
collective was produced by Romania’s Alexander Nanau Production in coproduction with Luxembourg’s Samsa Film and HBO Europe, with support from the Romanian Film Centre, the Luxemburg Film Fund and the Sundance Documentary Fund, and with the contribution of RTS Switzerland, RSI Switzerland, YES Docu and MDR Germany.
As the film was released in Romania by Bad Unicorn on 28 February 2020, it is also eligible to represent Romania at the Academy Awards in the best international feature category. Nanau received the International Emmy Award in 2010.
The film is also in the EFA Documentary Selection 2020. The members of the European Film Academy are currently voting for the nominations in the European Documentary section, which will be announced four to five weeks prior to the European Film Awards Ceremony.
