First Grader producers Sixth Sense develop $25m Libya-set film

Sixth Sense Productions’ Richard Harding and Sam Feuer have announced that the company is preparing a film based on the true story of six Bulgarian medics in Libya who were tortured to confess to having deliberately infected 400 children with HIV.

With the working title The Benghazi Six, the project is currently in script development stage. “We are interviewing a few different Hollywood A-List writers at this point and will start meeting with directors shortly, once the script is completed or close to being completed,” Harding told ScreenDaily at the Sofia International Film Festival, where the company’s last film The First Grader is screening out of competition. “We have a cast in mind and will approach them once the script is completed.”

The approximate budget for the film is $25m and the producers hope to start shooting in 2012 in Bulgaria and Libya.

“We have been meeting with potential financial partners, but no decision has been made yet. This is a very important and delicate project, so it is extremely important that we get the appropriate financial partner,” said Harding. “We will try to make a Hollywood movie, but the Bulgarian cause will be most important in it.”

The story dates back to 1999 when the Bulgarian doctors who were working in Libya were arrested and spent eight years in prison, being sentenced to death twice. They were released in 2007 upon intervention of the French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Asked about how the crisis in Libya will affect their plans, Harding said: “The current events in Libya will bring attention and interest to our film. We pray for the safety of the people of Libya.”