(2020, 10 minutes)

What if COVID-19 could tell its own story? In this provocative and whimsical animated film, King Covid, voiced by CBC’s Tom Power, gives his perspective on humanity’s long relationship with viruses and makes the case that his mission is to save the planet.

With humour and imagination, King Covid reflects on the role viruses have played throughout human history. He considers how viruses and humans have evolved alongside one another and points to the ways pandemics have changed societies, disrupted established systems and forced people to adapt.

The King looks back at past pandemics, including the Black Death, and considers the profound social and cultural changes that followed. While acknowledging the enormous human cost of pandemics, he argues that these moments of upheaval have also forced societies to adapt and rethink how they understand science, health and their relationship with the world around them.

Turning his attention to the present, King Covid points to some of humanity’s most pressing challenges, from pollution and overpopulation to the destruction of the natural environment. From his perspective, the pandemic is not simply a health crisis: it is a warning and an opportunity for humans to change direction before causing further damage to their shared habitat.

Through evocative animation and an irreverent central character, "King Covid" takes a playful approach to serious questions about humanity, viruses and the natural world. As King Covid asks, what comes next? And if humanity survives, will he finally get the credit he believes he deserves?

Director: Lulu Keating
Producer: Karen Wong