Alexander Nanau's documentary Colectiv/Collective was released on Friday, November 20, in cinemas and VOD (video-on-demand) platforms in the US, Canada, Great Britain, and Ireland, marking the start of the official campaign for the Oscars. 

Collective is Romania's official proposal for the 2021 Oscars, in the Best International Feature Film category. It is the first time that Romania picks a documentary as its proposal for the Academy Awards.

Alexander Nanau's documentary is also one of the six documentaries nominated at the European Film Awards 2020.

The Romanian documentary will also arrive in theaters and VOD platform in several countries this fall, including in Europe (such as France, Germany, Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland), according to Agerpres. It can already be watched on HBO Go in all HBO Europe countries.

"Seeing the impact Collective had during the last year, I could not be happier for our entire production team, whose dedication and work is now being acknowledged worldwide. Apart from selections in the best film festivals and the awards Collective has won, in the last two weeks, Collective has been chosen as Romania's official Oscar entry, and it has been nominated for Best European Documentary at the European Film Awards 2020," director Alexander Nanau said in a Facebook post announcing the film's launch in the US and the UK.

The Romanian director also mentioned that in the days before the UK and US release, the film got "rave reviews" in dozens of foreign publications, such as The New York Times, The Guardian, Washington Post, Financial Times, and IndieWire. 

Although known as a documentary about the 2015 deadly fire at the Colectiv club in Bucharest, Collective actually takes a behind-the-scenes look at the fight against corruption that followed this tragedy. It tells the story of the first year after the fire and follows both the authorities and the journalists in their interaction to search for and expose the truth. 

The documentary premiered last year at the Venice Film Festival, outside of the competition. It was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and at the Zurich Film Festival, where it was also awarded. In addition, the film was in the official selection of the Sundance 2020 Film Festival and was screened at several international festivals, including New Directors/New Films, IDFA, True/False, CPH DOX, San Francisco International Film Festival, Göteborg International Film Festival, or Full Frame.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/colectiv film)