The film Pay Or Die which premiered in March at SXSW is about Americans living with diabetes and facing a life-or-death choice of paying the severe cost of insulin charged by pharmaceutical companies. The film follows the personal stories of a mother and daughter as they struggle to rebuild their lives after spending their money on insulin: a young adult diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes during COVID-19 and a Minnesota family thrown into the spotlight when their 26-year-old son dies from rationing his insulin.

MTV Documentary Film gained the rights over the film Pay Or Die as it was negotiated by Lance McPherson on behalf of MTV Documentary Films along with Paul Syznol as the legal representative on behalf of the filmmakers and UTA represented as their sales agent. MTV plans for a theater release later this year and to debut it on Paramount Plus.

Deadline gave insight from Sheila Nevins, EP of MTV Documentary Films. Nevins said, “This film, in the tradition of documentaries that nudge the world, exposes the astronomical and unconscionable costs of life saving drugs. The big business of Pharma rules over whether the afflicted will live or die.”

Pay Or Die will be the closing film at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York City on June 8th.