Extra: Principal Media, VisionHawk Films partner; TVF Int'l inks deals in Asia - Realscreen

Principal Media to distribute VisionHawk nature documentaries

Principal Media, a global content licensing and channel distribution company, has come to an agreement to partner with VisionHawk Films to help distribute three of its nature and wildlife documentary offerings.

Ninja of the Rockies, Yellowstone Journals and World of Oceans will all be distributed by Principal Media. With these acquisitions, the company now owns more than 600 hours of 4K and 8K content.

Principal Media announced it has already secured licensing deals with platforms in the UK, Russia and several Asian countries.

In Ninja of the Rockies, viewers get a closer look at a mountain lion and her cubs in the Montana wilderness during a harsh winter. Yellowstone Journals is a six-part series exploring the wildlife in Yellowstone; while six-part series World of Oceans from AquaTerra Films in association with VisionHawk ventures to the world’s most unexplored ecosystem, the planet’s oceans.

“Demand for 4K content has been steadily increasing so Principal Media has been investing in productions we feel will have excellent sales potential on a global scale,” said Gary Rosenson, CEO, Principal Media.

“Our partnership with VisionHawk Films has made it possible for them to finish passion projects that fit within their mission while allowing us to offer multi-platform broadcasters around the world content we know they want.”

BAFTA reveals Craft Awards winners

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has unveiled the winners of its British Academy Television Craft Awards.

This year’s ceremony, held Monday (May 24) on YouTube and Facebook, was hosted by Gbemisola Ikumelo.

Teresa Griffiths took home the best director: factual award for Lee Miller — A Life on the Front Line (Erica Starling Productions and Ronachan Films for BBC2).

Nominees in the category included Deeyah Khan for America’s War on Abortion (Fuuse Films for ITV’s ‘Exposure’); James Bluemel for Once Upon a Time in Iraq (Keo Films/BBC2); and Xavier Alford for Locked In: Breaking the Silence (Marble Films for BBC4′s ‘Storyville’).

In the emerging talent: factual category, director Marian Mohamed won for Defending Digga D (Lambent Productions for BBC3).

Nominees included shooting producer/director Ashley Francis-Roy for Damilola: The Boy Next Door & The Real Eastenders (Acme TV for Channel 4); director Jessica Kelly for The Schools that Chain Boys (BBC News Arabic Documentaries/BBC iPlayer) and Silicon Valley’s Online Slave Market (BBC News Arabic Documentaries/BBC2); and producer Kandise Abiola for Terms & Conditions: A UK Drill Story (Century Films for YouTube).

TVF Int’l closes raft of sales in Asia

Distributor TVF International has closed a number of sales for its catalog across Asia.

Netflix licensed Aussie documentaries China Love (pictured; 1 x 90 minutes), produced by Media Stockade for ABC, and The Mosque Next Door (3 x 60 minutes; Southern Pictures for SBS) for South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Discovery Asia closed a package for South East Asia including aerial show UAE from Above (1 x 60 minutes), from Navigation Films, and Frontier Sumatra (1 x 60 minutes), a one off from Beach House Pictures.

The network also acquired the rights to the Channel NewsAsia-commissioned Aerial Asia (4 x 60 minute) and the PBS-commissioned Enemy of the Reich (1 x 60 minutes) from Unity Productions Foundation for its India regions, as well as the underwater special Strange Creatures (1 x 60 minutes) from Gran Angular Films for Animal Planet.

National Geographic in Asia secured two series for Nat Geo Wild: the Russell Crowe-narrated series Great Barrier Reef: A Living Treasure (4 x 45 minutes) from RJ Media and TVF-Tokyovision coproduction Ocean Wild (4 x 50).

TechStorm picked up the rights to seasons 11 and 12 of long-running, pop-science series Innovation Nation (182 x 30 minutes) and Did I Mention Invention (17 x 30 minutes), produced by Litton Entertainment for CBS and the CW Network, respectively.

Pulse TV, meanwhile, acquired a package of titles including Greenwall Productions’ The Beautiful People (10 x 48 minutes) and Freddie Flintoff Versus the World (8 x 46 minutes; Zig Zag Productions for ITV).

In Korea, Sign of the Times (5 x 45 minutes) has been picked up by Dream N Company and Channel A.

The deal with Channel A also included a raft of lifestyle and gardening titles including Zinc Media’s Hidden Villages (12 x 48 minutes); 291 Film Company’s Ageless Gardens (15 x 22 minutes); and surfing series Brilliant Corners (5 x 52 minutes) from The Wave Productions.

Elsewhere, YNTV secured rights to In Search of Umami (6 x 23 minutes; Sitting In Pictures), while NATV picked up Animal Planet-commissioned Dog’s Best Friend (22 x 25; Summerhill International).

In Hong Kong, TVB licensed a package of titles including short-form series 101 Easy Japanese from Tokyovision; Simply Delicious from the Basic Cook Company; and Little Big World (8 x 25 minutes) from Spoonfilm; as well as the Active TV-produced The Food Files (45 x 23 minutes) and Documania’s Grand Spaces: Thailand (12 x 23 minutes).

RTHK secured the rights to Channel 4 commission Jimmy’s Big Bee Rescue (2 x 47 minutes) from Red Sky Productions; BBC4′s Eugenics: Science’s Greatest Scandal (2 x 60 minutes) from Furnace; and Venus: Death of a Planet (1 x 52 minutes) from Thomas Lucas Productions.

ViuTV in Hong Kong picked up a package of titles including the RTE-commissioned series Vogue Williams Investigates (13 x 25 minutes) and The Healthy Food Guide (10 x 23 minutes; Top Shelf Productions for Choice TV).

In China, TVF International secured a package of almost 100 hours with Bili Bili including MediaCorp’s Real Deal: Auction Secrets (5 x 48 minutes) and a pair of science documentaries: The Secrets of Quantum Physics (2 x 59 minutes) and Everything and Nothing (2 x 59 minutes), both produced by Furnace for the BBC.

Elsewhere in China, Youku secured online rights to In Search of Umami and LIC licensed the blue-chip wildlife series Great Barrier Reef: A Living Treasure (4 x 60 minutes).

In Japan, NHK picked up the rights to feature documentary The Six: Titanic’s Last Secret (1 x 80 minutes/1 x 60 minutes) for it’s World Document slot.

In Vietnam, TKL also acquired a large package from TVF’s catalogue for Hanoi TV. The 97-hour selection included Attitude Pictures’ Being Me (36 x 29 minutes) and Hidden Italy (16 x 25 minutes) from Elephant Italia for Sky Italia.

Finally, in Thailand, Thairath TV picked up the rights to the twin series Spring at Jimmy’s Farm (4 x 45 minutes) and Autumn at Jimmy’s Farm (4 x 45 minutes), both produced by Red Sky Productions for Channel 4.

Terranoa takes int’l rights for Moochie

French distributor Terranoa has acquired the international distribution rights to the multipart true crime limited series Moochie.

Currently in production with a tentative release date for the second half of 2022, the series was originally commissioned by Christine Cauquelin, head of documentaries at Canal Plus. ABC News recently joined as co-producer with exclusive rights in the U.S.

Set in Florida, the series charts the on-going murder investigation of Jill Halliburton Su, a relative of the Halliburton oil dynasty, who was killed in a home invasion in September 2014.

The project will also zero in on the accusation of Dayonte Resiles, a young African American man nicknamed “Moochie,” and his July 2016 escape from a Broward County courthouse and the ensuing manhunt.

Resiles is currently facing the death penalty.

Moochie marks the fifth collaboration between director Samuel Collardey and Parisian producer Grégoire Debailly of GEKO Films, and a first copro with Joachim Landau at Empreinte Digital.

The exact release date is pending on the date of final trial.

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Extra: Principal Media, VisionHawk Films partner; TVF Int'l inks deals in Asia - Realscreen
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