NEON makes Alex Gibney COVID doc ‘Totally Under Control’ free through Election Day

Beginning today through Election Day on Tuesday, November 3^rd, NEON has made Alex Gibney’s Totally Under Control available to stream for free on its website. The company is also setting up high profile Twitter Watch Parties throughout the week along with Q&As with directors, Alex Gibney, Ophelia Harutyunyan & Suzanne Hillinger. Totally Under Control filmed quietly over the last few months and was completed just days prior to its launch on October 13th. The film, which debuted at #2 on Apple its opening week, is currently streaming on Hulu.  

This week the striking documentary was nominated for 4 Critic’s Choice Awards including Best Editing, Best Narration, and Best Political Documentary, along with the Most Compelling Living Subjects Honor for whistleblower, Dr. Rick Bright. 

Alex Gibney remarks on the film, ”This…will give you an intensely factual account of how the federal government handled this pandemic. Vote accordingly.”

Judd Apatow and the filmmakers will host a Twitter Watch Party on Friday, October 30^th at 4pm PT/ 7pm ET. 

At this moment over 227,000 Americans have died from COVID-19.  From July 15 to August 31, the death toll was running at an average of 1000/day.  That’s double the number of those who perished on 9/11 every week. The carelessly designed lockdowns and their long-lasting economic effects have led to massive job losses (23 million/14.7% in April), widespread hunger, dislocation and a runaway federal deficit.  Had the federal government done its job properly – by following clear guidelines in place based on past pandemics – most of the death and destruction could have been avoided. While the current administration makes its claims for a job well done, the fact is that the US response to COVID-19 is one of the worst, with 4% of the world’s population and 21% of the deaths. 

How did this happen? 

On January 20th, 2020 the US and South Korea both discovered their first cases of COVID-19. However, 9 months later, the novel Coronavirus has claimed the lives of over 227,000 Americans and caused staggering economic damage, while in South Korea, there were no significant lockdowns and, in an urbanized population of 51 million, only 461 lives have been lost.  Where did we go wrong? As the presidential election nears, Americans are increasingly enraged by a lack of clear leadership, endemic political corruption and left to wonder how did the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world manage to fail so thoroughly in its response to a global pandemic? 

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney, directing with Ophelia Harutyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger, interrogates this question and its devastating implications in Totally Under Control.  With damning testimony from public health officials and hard investigative reporting, the filmmakers expose a system-wide collapse caused by a profound dereliction of Presidential leadership. 

It will be a generation before we know the full extent of the damage wrought by this pandemic, but Totally Under Control will stand as the definitive account of the Trump administration’s incompetence, corruption and denial in the face of this global pandemic. 

Totally Under Control was written by Alex Gibney and produced and directed by Alex Gibney, Ophelia Harutyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger. The film was edited by Lindy Jankura and Alex Keipper, cinematography by Ben Bloodwell and music by Peter Nashel.  The film is backed by various well known producing teams with Stacey Offman, Richard Perello of Jigsaw Productions, longtime Gibney/Jigsaw collaborators Alison Ellwood and Maiken Baird, Jeffrey Lurie and Marie Therese Guirgis of Play/Action Pictures, Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann of Participant, Tom Quinn, Dan O’Meara and Jeff Deutchman of NEON and Andrew Morrison, Mark Lampert and Michael Sacks of Yellow Bear Films all executive producing. 

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