FAQs

Why Does "BEATING SUPERBUGS" Matter?

This film focuses on the potential weapons to fight superbugs in leading antibiotic-resistant diseases worldwide. To date, solutions for bacterial resistance, including the vital roles of key science collaborators in government, economics and the pharmaceutical industry, have not been a central focus in other documentaries on the subject. The high danger of multi-resistant bacteria demands attention from several sources, each with its special virtues. Superbugs' frequent role in killing patients first infected by COVID-19 makes attention to their solution all the more crucial. Beating SuperBugs: Can We Win? covers leading new developments that could save millions of lives in the future.

How Do We Tell Our Story?

The COVID-19 pandemic demands that the superbug saga be set within its framework. As in the influenza pandemic of 1918-19, superbugs can be the final cause of death after viruses first find their host victims. Early, late and in the middle, this film makes connections between the two. At its widest angle, BEATING SUPERBUGS presents bacteria as our ancient and honorable ancestors, still intimately living with us and deserving care for our personal and world health. Only some bacteria, morphed into antibiotic-resistance, have become our enemies. Five leading such bugs are paired with patients who've been their victims, presenting both microbial and human dramas as they battle each other. These personal profiles are interwoven with emerging scientific therapies central to the human side of the fight. The film also features interviews of key personnel in economics, government and business who are collaborating in efforts to discover and provide new drugs at popular prices to patients worldwide, using experimental new business models. Classic archival photos and film clips are combined with the latest microphotography and with a quantity of scientifically-based custom animations to immerse the viewer in the microbial world.

Who is Our Audience?

We aim to reach a worldwide audience of curious, middle-to-high school-educated viewers who may or may not know much about this subject. In the last decade, the press has popularized superbugs, making them somewhat familiar to the public, though their extensive threat little known. But widespread data about the fast-growing COVID-19 pandemic has made even the average person somewhat savvy about the unseen microbial world. In short, a global audience is primed to see a film that exposes superbugs as COVID's close accomplices. We show that bacteria in general--our five featured superbugs in particular--have human-like group capabilities, making them all the more understandable to the average viewer.. This fact is just one of several featured in the film that are fresh to general science, therefore, to the public. After initial release, this film is anticipated to have wide distribution via festivals, social media, broadcast, streaming and particular conferences, conventions, and diverse classrooms, either online or actual.

What Are Our Next Steps?

In our post-production phase, we're still alert to the subject's constant new developments, we continue to:

  • Track late-breaking developments and relevant news about superbugs, and their collaboration with viruses
  • Locate sources and obtain permissions for archival materials; preview and log relevant visuals
  • Finish animation design and development
  • For Distribution Phase (a 1-2 year project): research film festivals; strategize on overall distribution plans; finalize budget; identify funders for this phase and write custom grant proposals with synopsis, treatment and budget for foundations, corporations and private donors
  • Negotiate with a distributor, social media agency, trailer/sizzler designer and distribution campaign manager.