Syndicado Film Sales has acquired world rights to “BLIX,” director Greta Stocklassa’s documentary about former U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix, which is being pitched during Hot Docs Forum, the Toronto fest’s co-production and financing event. The Toronto-based sales agent is also boarding the project as executive producers.
“BLIX” follows the former head of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, who was sent to Iraq in 2003 to determine whether U.S. suspicions that the country was manufacturing weapons of mass destruction were founded. Though the final report found no evidence of an Iraqi weapons program under Saddam Hussein, the U.S. and a coalition of allies nevertheless decided to invade the country.
Now in the final stretch of his life, living in relative obscurity as a Swedish pensioner, Blix questions whether he did enough to prevent a war whose impact is felt to this day.
“To me, Hans’s story is not only an intriguing behind-the-scenes of one of the most important events in modern history, it’s the story of the limits of diplomacy, moral dilemmas, and personal responsibility in shaping the world,” said Stocklassa, whose previous film, “Kiruna — A Brand New World,” premiered in competition at Visions du Reel in 2019.
Producer Radovan Sibrt, of Prague-based production house PINK, whose credits include Adina Pintilie’s Berlin Golden Bear winner “Touch Me Not,” said, “We are thrilled to have an internationally acclaimed sales agent on board. For us, it’s a step in the right direction.”
During Hot Docs Forum, which takes place online May 4-5, Syndicado is looking for U.S. partners to help close the financing gap. The company is also repping the Forum project “The Last Nomads,” by directors Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić.
“‘BLIX’ is a project of the highest level of ambition,” said Syndicado co-founder Aleksandar Govedarica. “A personal and most importantly empathic story that sheds light on one of the defining events of the 21st century.”
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