WORLD PREMIERING IN DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
MARCH 16TH AT SXSW 2021
THE OXY KINGPINS tells the untold story of the web between pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, street criminals and retailers as they conspired to facilitate this drug-fueled crisis responsible for the deaths of half-a-million Americans. It exposes the unseen middle layer of the distribution pyramid consisting of the distributors who shipped pills to pharmacies, hospitals, and pain management clinics across the country.
Much more than a documentary about the opioid crisis, THE OXY KINGPINS fearlessly pulls back the curtain on the opioid epidemic in America and captures the corruption in American business and the lengths that corporations are willing to go to for their bottom line. The doc is a critique on late stage capitalism and a cautionary tale of unfettered greed.
Directed by three-time EMMY® Award nominee Brendan FitzGerald and co-directed by Oscar® nominee Nick August-Perna, THE OXY KINGPINS is produced by Drea Bernardi at TYT, with Chris Smith [Tiger King, Fyre] and Hyperobject Industries’ Adam McKay [The Big Short, Succession], Maeve Cullinane [Vice, Motherland: Fort Salem] and Todd Schulman [Borat, Bruno] serving as executive producers.
The team behind THE OXY KINGPINS also includes TYT Founder and CEO Cenk Uygur and CBO Steve Oh as Executive Producers. XRM Media’s Michael Y. Chow, Sue Turley and Bonnie Buckner, in addition to Second Nature’s Hayley Pappas and Matt Ippolito also serve as Executive Producers.