Despite a world pandemic, we were able to finish CHAINED in the summer of 2020. With international festivals cancelling or scaling way back, we decided to pivot our release strategy to ‘Start Locally, Grow Globally’ and have our World Premiere in our hometown where we could all watch the film on the big screen like we had dreamed.

It was a risky approach but paid off. Some highlights include:
- being One of only 100 international feature films programmed;
- being One of only 16 films selected for in-theatre screenings;
- our in-theatre screenings selling out - the first in less than 24 hrs!
- our online screenings also sold out within a week of being announced;
- 82% of voters gave CHAINED 5 stars!

And here is what the VIFF Reviewer had to say:

"Titus Heckel uses Chained’s high-concept setup as a springboard for an enthralling dive into an impressionable psyche shaped by cycles of abuse. Kazadi is phenomenal in every scene, whether he’s devising ways to dominate the hulking Jim or working up the nerve to open his heart to his classmate (Leia Madu). Equal parts crime thriller and coming of age story, Heckel’s film derives considerable tension from inviting us to speculate at to what
manner of man will be forged by this crucible"