A 2020 American science fiction thriller film based on the COVID-19 pandemic. Set in 2024 a pandemic ravages the world and its cities. Centering on a handful of people as they navigate the obstacles currently hindering society: disease, martial law, quarantine, and vigilantes.
The project was announced in May 2020, with screenwriters Adam Mason and Simon Boyes having come up with the idea in March, shortly after the pandemic stopped all film production. The cast joined in June, and filming took place around Los Angeles over July and August. It was the first film to have production following the shutdown. It’s timely release and subject matter has critics calling this film a tragedy as unbelievable and ironically surreal as the one we are experiencing.
Songbird is set in 2024, the COVID-19 virus has mutated into COVID-23 and the world is in its fourth pandemic year. In the United States, people are required to take temperature checks on their cell phones while those infected with COVID-23 are taken from their homes against their will and forced into quarantine camps, also known as “Q-Zones” or concentration camps, where some fight back against the brutal restrictions. In these camps, the infected are left to die or get better on their own.
The story revolves around a handful of characters and a dystopic situation that is not that far fetched from what has been planned & now being rolled out at warp speed.
Nico Price, is a motorbike courier with an immunity bracelet, he is in a virtual relationship with Sara Garcia, a young artist living with her grandmother Lita. Lockdown mandates prohibits them from physical contact & anything entering must first be disinfected in a UV chamber. Nico works for Lester, who manages the delivery service. One of their biggest clients is the Griffins; Piper and William, whose daughter Emma has an auto-immune disorder. William is a former record executive having an affair with May, a singer who makes a living online selling covers of classic songs. May develops a bond with Michael Dozer, a disabled war veteran who also works for Lester as a drone operator to keep tabs of their couriers.
One night, Lita begins to show symptoms of COVID-23 while the sanitation department, led by Emmett Harland, is forcing Sara’s neighbor Alice out of her apartment after getting infected and failing the test. Harland warns Sara that their apartment building has seen a rise in infections. Sara informs Nico about Lita’s condition, leading Nico to spend the night by Sara’s apartment door. In the morning, Sara passes her temperature check, but Lita fails hers and Nico promises to keep Sara from being taken to the camps and will get her an immunity bracelet so they can escape LA together.
Nico contacts Lester to let him know that he’s aware they are transporting illegal immunity wristbands and extorts him to give up his contact. Lester tells him the Griffins are the ones selling them. When he goes to their house, the Griffins give Nico the phone number of their supplier. Nico meets up with Harland at a warehouse, revealing it to be a trap.
In the aftermath, Piper and May frame William and Harland as those responsible behind the sale of the immunity wristbands. May and Dozer begin a virtual relationship. Nico sends Lester his own immunity bracelet as thanks while he and Sara ride off into the sunset.
