Arte and WDR uncover China’s Wild Secrets in round of deals for TVF International
China’s Wild Secrets looks at indigenous animals including the giant panda
European public broadcasters Arte and WDR have pre-bought China’s Wild Secrets, TVF International’s blue-chip wildlife coproduced with Chinese streamer Bilibili.
Narrated by Sir Stephen Fry and filmed within China’s extensive national parks, the 5×45′ series was announced last year, billed as China’s most ambitious wildlife series to date.
The pre-sales were among numerous deals across Western Europe announced by TVF International at this week’s Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle, France.
The distributor said it has also licensed a package of world affairs titles to Arte, including China’s Abandoned Daughters (1×48′), from Mediacorp for CNA; China: Preparing for Dangerous Storms (3×48′); and Mandate for Murder: Britain’s Struggle in Palestine (1×56′), which looks at the UK’s rule in Palestine and its legacy in the Middle East.
Arte also licensed two science programmes from the distributor: AI & You (1×52′), from Animo TV for RTÉ, and Rain: The Untold Story (3×60′), produced by Cwmni Da TV for the BBC and TG4.
In Germany, Hearst Networks has licensed three seasons of the BBC’s flagship archaeology series Digging For Britain, as well as season two of Cosmote-commissioned Wings of the Great War (5×48′). Both titles are for The History Channel in Hearst Network’s German-speaking territories.
Hearst Networks Germany also licensed true crime series Satanic Panic: The Peter Ellis Story (8×25′), which examines one of the most controversial cases of the 1990s, in which mass hysteria led to accusations of satanic ritual, child abuse and cannibalism, and ultimately a wrongful conviction that took 30 years to overturn.
German news network Deutsche Welle has licensed Indigiqueer (1×44′), exploring the intersection of queerness and indigeneity, featuring Drag Race’s Illona Verley.
In Iberia, the distributor has secured deals for a number of titles with Spanish streamer Movistar Plus+, including a pre-sale for The Ozempic Effect (1×60′), which is being made for CBC in Canada.
CBC Nature of Things documentary Fluid: Life Beyond the Binary (1×48′), hosted by comedian Mae Martin, is also making its way to Spanish screens on Movistar Plus+, along with history documentaries How the Second World War Became a Global War (1×52′) and France Télévisions and Mediatika’s Ulysses: From Myth to Science (1×60′).
Movistar Plus+ has also acquired Theodor Herzl: The Man Who Made Israel (1×60′), which is hosted by David Baddiel and features diary entries voiced by Fry.
TV3, the flagship channel of Catalan pubcaster Televisó de Catalunya, will air My Dad the Sex Tourist (1×49′), from Clover Films for Channel 4 and ABC, which uncovers the consequences of a booming sex tourism industry in the Philippines; and Walk the Line: Escaping From China to the USA (1×58′), which follows Chinese migrants as they cross the infamous Darién Gap in the hope of entering the US.
Many of the deals were brokered by senior sales and acquisitions executive for Europe, Ben Nohr, who attended Sunny Side this week.
