Blue Ant International’s robust spring slate includes premium new offerings across factual, specialist factual, high-impact documentaries and kids & family categories
(Toronto, ON – March 28, 2022) – Global distribution group, Blue Ant International, announced today that it is heading to MIPTV with 180 hours of new premium programming across tent-pole categories including Factual Entertainment, Specialist Factual, High-Impact Documentaries and Kids & Family. The new slate includes premium titles and long-running franchises that are in high demand from platforms around the world looking to fill their offerings with fresh, compelling programming.
“Audience demand for content across all genres is still on the rise and our international expertise allows us to tap into a variety of ways to bring compelling series and films to buyers around the world, from streaming to linear TV.” says Solange Attwood, EVP, Blue Ant International. “We have a significant new slate this spring that includes returning, fan-favourite programming and must-see limited series that viewers are eager to watch.”
Blue Ant International’s spring slate is set to deliver three new high-impact documentaries, including the highly anticipated true crime docuseries Evil By Design: Surviving Nygard (3 x 60’; HD; Blue Ant Studios), which searches for the truth behind the allegations of disgraced fashion designer, Peter Nygård, and his 40-year reign of terror, featuring exclusive interviews with survivors, never-before-seen photos and video footage. Also joining the slate is Coextinction (1 x 94; 4K, Coexistence Films), which explores the incredible true story of a mother orca who carried her dead calf for 17 days, while examining the collapse of the ecosystem, injustices against Indigenous peoples and the frontlines of environmental threats. Blue Ant’s high-impact documentary offering also includes the previously announced Prince Charles’ Grand Green Design, (1 x 60; HD, B4Films) an exclusive, inside look at a secret project Prince Charles has been working on for over a decade—the restoration of a rundown estate, with the goal of instilling hope and pride to a community.
New factual programming debuting at MipTV includes the long-running See No Evil, Season 8 (20 x 60’; HD; Arrow Media & Saloon Media), a ground-breaking series that shows how real crimes are solved with surveillance cameras, featuring candid footage, dramatic reconstructions and first-hand testimony from police and witnesses. Buyers will also be introduced to Roswell Rediscovered: 75th Anniversary (1 x 120′ & 2 x 60′; 4K HDR; Coleman Television Limited), a deep dive into America’s most infamous UFO incident with new witness testimonies, incredible alternative theories and concrete scientific facts; Ice Vikings, Season 3, (8 x 60’; 4K; Farpoint Films), which looks at the wild and dangerous world of commercial ice fishing as modern day ice vikings battle against the frigid cold to haul in lucrative freshwater catch; and Fraud Squad, Season 4 (10 x 60’; HD; Brown Bob Productions), which follows a team of investigators whose job is to catch and convict the biggest and most shocking cases of theft from the UK’s public funds.
Blue Ant International is bringing an impressive batch of new specialist factual titles to market including returning series Battle of the Alphas, Season 2 (12 x 30′ 4K HDR; Yap Films), a look at the science behind animal conflict and competition, from turf wars to mating mayhem, as animals go head-to-head with their own kind in an epic battle for supremacy and Malawi Wildlife Rescue, Season 2 (6×60’; HD, 4K & HDR, Icon Films), which follows the dedicated wildlife rehabilitation team at the Lilongwe Rehabilitation Center in Malawi on new high-octane excursions, including rescuing animals from snares, confiscating illegal wildlife trafficking, such as pangolins and scorpions, translocating elephants and zebras and dealing with mischievous baboons. Additional natural history titles include: One Planet, One Chance (3 x 60′; HD; One Planet Production), which follows renowned conservation photographer and filmmaker Joakim Odelberg around the world to gather facts and raise awareness on the impact humans have on the planet; The Orchard (1 x 60; 4K; Arcadia Entertainment Inc.) a fascinating look at the ecological life cycle in an apple orchard, from the first warmth of spring to the autumn harvest and the previously announced documentary The Ocean’s Greatest Feast (1 x 50’; 4K; Earth Touch), which explores the annual sardine run in South Africa, using an array of new filming technology to bring this renowned phenomenon vividly to life in full 4K, giving audiences an immersive dive into this natural wonder.
Blue Ant International has added several new factual lifestyle series to its offering including Rochelle Humes: Interior Designer in the Making (10 x 60’; HD; UKTV), an aspirational series starring the UK’s singer and television presenter Rochelle Humes, who invites cameras into her home for the first time as she transitions her passion for home decor into the world of professional interior design.
Among the new lifestyle batch, the distributor has acquired several home reno and food titles from General Purpose Entertainment, including: Shotgun Reno (13 x 30′; HD; General Purpose Entertainment) a look at home renovation done in the midst of a life-altering event like a wedding or the birth of a child; The Fix (26 x 30′; SD; General Purpose Entertainment), which follows homeowners who think they’re getting a free renovation and find that the contractors have given their homes absurd makeovers. Once the joke is revealed, the contractors transform their homes into the lovely oases they were hoping for; Dining INNvasion (13 x 30′; HD; General Purpose Entertainment) a makeover show for desperate resort owners in need of a menu revamp and dining room redesign; Making House (13 x 30′; HD; General Purpose Entertainment), which follows interior designer and her contractor husband, Jenn and Chad, as they gut their forever home while living out of a cramped apartment with their three kids; and The Heat with Mark McEwan (39 x 30′; SD; General Purpose Entertainment), a peek inside the professional kitchen of celebrity chef and entrepreneur Mark McEwan. Rounding out the new lifestyle programming is Flat Out Food (6 x 30′; HD; HalterMedia Inc.), which aims to change how audiences think about food with a journalist detailing the history and cultural significance of dishes and their ingredients.
Additional specialist factual programming includes history-themed titles including Art of the Eighth (1 x 60′; 4K; HDR; Coleman Television), an emotional look at the forgotten path of 200,000 American air force personnel serving in England during WWII who turned to art, drawn on the walls of barracks, canteens and block rooms, bringing a new and untold aspect of the war; The Lost Colony of Roanoke: New Evidence (2 x 60′ HD | 1 x 120′ HD; Saloon Media & BriteSpark Films), which examines a gripping 400-year-old mystery and countless conspiracy theories around the disappearance of more than a hundred colonists who settled on Roanoke Island, off North Carolina in 1587; Mysteries From Above (10 x 60′; HD; Saloon Media), a documentary series that investigates significant historic sites from drones, satellites and aerial photography, allowing for a dramatic perspective; and the previously announced title Ancient Earth: Dinosaurs of the Frozen Continent (2 x 60′; HD; NHNZ Worldwide & Giant Screen Films), a two-part series following paleontologists as they uncover fossil evidence of ancient animals and plants that once thrived on Antarctica, while unraveling the mysteries of how these creatures survived in a land where it’s dark for four months.
New kids and family titles include the recently announced, long-running live action series Detention Adventure Season 3, (31×11’, LoCo Motion Pictures/Broken Compass Films), which continues to follow the Detention Adventure gang, this time working to uncover a secret in a hidden Lawren Harris painting. When they are sent to a dilapidated Island School, they soon realize that it is more than it appears to be and might just hold the answers that they are looking for. Additional kids and family series include: Leo’s Pollinators (26 x 11′; HD; Fifth Ground Entertainment), starring Leo the catfish on her mission to save pollinators who help plants grow by spreading pollen, including bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and flying squirrels; Pixie Fix and the Last Dewdrops (13 x 12′; HD; Umatik Entertainment), the charming animated story of Pixie Fix, a wise elf and his clumsy assistant, Huey Gluey, who set off on a quest through desert, snowy mountains and the jungle to uncover the whereabouts of the missing dewdrops and Cute Baby Animals (20 x 5′; HD; Three Arrows Media), a series of wildlife shorts featuring the cutest baby animals around the world, from rhinos to wombats, while exploring how these irresistible babies survive in their diverse habitats.
Blue Ant International is a leading worldwide distributor of high-quality, creative content that engages audiences worldwide and across multiple platforms. The company offers a full-service approach to production partners with sales operations in the U.S., UK and Canada. Blue Ant International has a growing slate of over 4,000 hours of premium content, including distinctive series and formats in five key genres including factual entertainment, specialist factual, high-impact documentaries, kids and family, and scripted. Blue Ant International also has one of the world’s largest offerings of 4K natural history content. Blue Ant International is a division of Blue Ant Media.