NYC-based Cargo Film & Releasing announced October 30 the acquisition of George Attwood and Callum Roe’s documentary about Reynhard Sinaga, the UK’s most prolific rapist who was sentenced to life imprisonment in early 2020.
Reynhard Sinaga was the UK’s most prolific rapist. Posing as a good Samaritan outside Manchester nightclubs, he drugged, sexually assaulted and filmed his depraved acts with almost 200 young men and students over 12 years.
Surviving Sinaga explores how this chilling story shocked Britain and the world and features exclusive interviews with Sinaga’s final victim, who helped police capture the serial rapist, the Guardian journalist who covered the disturbing trial, and the lead prosecutor who sent Sinaga away for life.
Written, directed & edited by UK filmmakers George Attwood and Callum Roe, the filmmakers negotiated an exclusive window with the subjects attached to this case to tell the story in film form. Surviving Sinaga is the first feature-length doc produced by The Wednesday Society.
“After seeing Surviving Sinaga we immediately knew this was a story that needed to be shared, not only because of the severity of the crimes Reynhard Sinaga committed over many years, but also because the filmmakers give voice to his victims,” says Austin Kennedy who negotiated the deal on behalf of Cargo Film.
The case currently stands as the longest custodial sentence for a non-homicide in UK history (30 years). In mid-2020 the UK Attorney General considered the possibility that his sentence may be too lenient, and has ordered a review to take place this fall. There is a strong possibility that the sentence will be extended. In January, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel ordered a review into the date rape drug (GHB) used by Sinaga as a direct response to the case.
Cargo Film & Releasing is also handling, among other docs, Hubert Sauper’s immersive portrait of post-colonial, “utopian” Cuba, Epicentro, which won the Grand Jury Award in Sundance 2020 World Documentary Competition.
The company is also handling Flint, directed by Anthony Baxter (You’ve Been Trumped) and narrated by Alec Baldwin. The much-lauded doc is described a ‘chilling examination of one of the worst human-caused environmental disasters in American history, in which journalist/filmmaker Baxter goes beyond the headlines in Flint, Michigan, where a government poisoned its own citizens’ water supply, to show the complete breakdown of authority, public trust and faith in the truth itself.’
