The distributor is offering a significantly expanded slate on the heels of its acquisition of Drive Media Rights, increasing its offering, its executive team, and its capacity to deliver premium content through pre-sales and co-productions
Blue Ant International announces new documentary special, Born to Be King, in time for MIPCOM
New offering also includes recently announced premium titles from Blue Ant Studios, Love Nature, and top-tier independent producers
(Toronto, ON – September 29, 2022) – Global distribution group, Blue Ant International, announced today a brand new slate of titles it is debuting to the international marketplace, including more than 1100 hours of premium content across factual, specialist factual, high-impact documentaries, kids and scripted categories. Debuting at MIPCOM, the new slate offers a diverse array of storytelling aimed at satisfying audiences across all platforms.
“Blue Ant International’s growing catalog, our expertise in financing and presales and our commitment to customer service allow us to meet the varied needs of our international buyers,” says Solange Attwood, EVP, Blue Ant International. “Bringing this volume of high quality shows to the market is a key point of difference in creating customized content solutions for the diverse needs of our platform partners, from linear, streaming to multi-platform.”
Earlier this year, Blue Ant International’s catalogue grew significantly with the acquisition of Drive Media Rights. As part of the acquisition, Ben Barrett and Lilla Hurst joined the team as Global Head of Content Financing & Partnerships and Global Head of Acquisitions & Partnerships, respectively, growing Blue Ant International’s position as a leader in pre-sale funding and co-productions and adding 900+ hours of programming to its portfolio.
Blue Ant International is also debuting a timely pre-sale opportunity for Born To Be King (1 x 60; HD: Touchdown Films), a brand new documentary special delivering in early 2023 that reveals the compelling inside story of the extraordinary life of King Charles. The documentary uses unique, unprecedented and unlimited access to a fascinating well of footage to show a definitive story of the man behind the crown, while exploring the direction of the British monarchy under King Charles III.
The distributor’s MIPCOM 2022 slate also includes King Charles’ Grand Design, an exclusive access documentary about a secret project that King Charles has been championing for over a decade—the purchase and ambitious restoration of Dumfries House. This film features the last known footage of the King with his mother, filmed together in a casual setting.
To round out the royals offering, and also available for licensing, is Blue Ant Studios’ new high-profile original documentary special, Prince Andrew: Banished, which chronicles the events that led to Prince Andrew’s sex trafficking allegation scandal, for which Blue Ant International holds global licensing rights.
New Specialist Factual Highlights:
Blue Ant International’s new MIPCOM slate will deliver a bevy of new specialist factual titles, including several recently announced original Love Nature natural history series and documentaries such as Chasing the Rains (4 x 60; 4K & HDR; Maramedia), Planet Shark (3 x 60’; 4K & HDR; Big Wave Productions), Uptown Otters (6 x 60’; 4K & HDR: Beach House Pictures), Woodpeckers: The Hole Story (1 x 60’; 4K & HDR; Coneflower Studios), Loons: A Cry From the Mist (1 x 60’; 4K & HDR; Yap Films). Additional specialist factual titles include: The Magic Circle of the Reef (4 x 60’; HD; Zona Mixta), which explores a southeast asian reef known as the Coral Triangle that has created a unique and self-sufficient ecosystem with diverse marine life that captivates with beauty and serenity.
The latest history titles include: Bettany Hughes’ Grand Tour: From Paris to Rome (4 x 60’; HD; Sandstone) which takes audiences on a journey of a lifetime with Prof. Bettany Hughes through the great cities of France and Italy to understand how travel, art, and culture can enrich our lives; Greatest Discoveries with Dan Snow (3 x 60’; HD; History Hit) in which Dan Snow explores the sites of history’s greatest discoveries, from lost Pharaoh’s tombs to the revelations of Pompeii to reveal the ingenuity and determination that led to some of the most important and amazing finds ever made; and Pride and Prostitution (1 x 60’; HD; One Tribe TV), which focuses on the very successful and often lucrative business of sex during the openly promiscuous era of Georgian Britain.
New Crime Highlights include:
Blue Ant International’s raft of new factual programming covers a wide range of genres, including several crime-focused series. These include: Big Little Crimes (10 x 60’; HD; Brown Bob Productions), which tells the gob-smacking stories of ordinary police who stumble upon incredibly lucky breakthroughs that wind up solving major criminal cases; The Defenders (3 x 60’; HD; Spring Films), goes deep behind the criminal justice system to show how the UK’s leading defense attorneys fight for their clients who have been charged with serious crimes;
Killer in My Family Season 4 (8 x 60; HD; Woodcut Media), a returning favourite that examines murders through the lens of the killers’ family members to give details through a very personal point of view; Black Widow (2 x 60’ or 1 x 120’; HD; Transistor Films), which chronicles the shocking case of Penny Jackson, who murdered her ex-army officer husband, David, coldly stabbing him on three separate occasions over an 18-minute period, all whilst on the phone to emergency services; Claremont: A Killer Among Us (3 x 60’; Barking Mad Productions), the story of how a chilling trail of rape and murder in Australia in 1996 was finally solved and the killer revealed after 20 years, told through the lens of the survivors; Who Murdered Meredith Kercher (3 x 60’; HD; Turquoise), which examines the murder of Meredith, the controversial trial of Amanda Knox, and features exclusive access to her Italian boyfriend, Rafael Solicito.
Factual observational documentary series Anyone’s Game Season 1 (6 x 30’; 4K; BestCrosses Studios & Game Seven Media) is an inside look at an elite basketball prep school in a small rural town, as freshmen seek out their place on the team and seniors give their all to secure scholarships to Division 1 NCAA colleges, all a step towards playing in the NBA;
New factual lifestyle programming with a focus on food, travel and home decor includes Order Up! (8 x 60’; 4K & HDR; Beach House Pictures), which follows Fresh Off the Boat star Hudson Yang on the ultimate chef apprenticeship crash course across America to Singapore; Flat Out Food Season 2 (5 x 30’; HD; Halter Media), which follows author and food activist, Jenn Sharp who takes viewers on a journey from the farm to the dinner plate, while examining the historical and cultural significance of ingredients, all with an aim to change how we think about our cuisine; Gone Fishing (36 x 30’; HD; Owl TV), the journey of lifelong friends, and British comedic royalty Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer, who embark on a tour of the UK’s finest fishing spots on a quest to recover from heart disease; Tom Kerridge Sunday Lunch (1 x 60’; HD; Bone Soup), featuring celebrity chef Tom Kerridge as he cooks eight amazing menus step-by-step that take Sunday lunch to another level. This is food made with love and care to treat family and friends; Tom Kerridge Christmas Dinner (8 x 30’; HD; Bone Soup), showcases Tom’s favourite meal of the year created with clever planning and resulting in a wonderful festive table laden with amazing food; Kings of the Wood S2 (8 x 60’; HD; Ricochet Productions) a formattable series featuring an elite gang of highly-skilled woodworkers, carpenters and black smiths who have joined forces to create beautiful items of furniture for deserving recipients; Money For Nothing S5 – S12 (20 x 160’; HD; Friel Kean Films), which follows entrepreneur Sarah Moore as she works to save objects from the landfill and, with the help of craftspeople, transforms them into valuable, bespoke pieces.
Additional new factual programming includes: Haunted Gold Rush (2 x 60’; HD; De Vries Productions), a two-part feature doc hosted by three paranormal experts that examines reports of paranormal activity along British Columbia’s historic Gold Rush Trail that some say are connected to its dark history as a lawless land where kidnappings, injustices, and murder were commonplace; Trauma Rescue Squad (50 x 60’; HD; Air TV), which follows the Hazardous Areas Response Team of paramedics as they respond to accidents and emergencies, featuring dramatic rescues, critical emergencies and the scenes of serious crime; Helicopter ER Seasons 8 & 9 (75 x 60; HD; Air TV), gives viewers total access into the high-speed action and life-or-death drama inside the helicopters that are the last hope of survival for people seriously injured in some of the UK’s most extreme landscapes; Bangers and Cash (10 x 60’; HD; AirTV), follows the Mathewson family as they discover and auction over 4,000 classic cars a year, as well as all kinds of rare commercial vehicles, vintage motorbikes and auto memorabilia, all set against the backdrop of a beautiful English village.
New High-Impact Documentary Highlights:
The distributor is launching new thought-provoking, entertaining and award-winning high-impact documentaries, including Cracked: The Perplexing World of Egg Donation (1 x 60’; HD; Catapult Pictures and Dreaming Bird Productions), a look at the economics, emotional costs and ethics of egg donation, as fertility rates decline and women delay having children, illuminating how rapid advances in reproductive science have left countries, cultures and laws struggling to catch up; Finding Satoshi (1 x 60’; HD; Mt. Melvil) a fascinating global quest for one remaining unsolved clue in a 14-year-old, hide-and-seek alternate reality game, Perplex City; Framing Agnes (1 x 90’; HD; Fae Pictures), a multi-award winning doc, including the NEXT Innovator Award and the NEXT Audience award at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, which uncovers a study about sex disorders in the late 1950s that was originally thought to include just one subject, a young trans woman named Agnes, but in 2017 revealed to include concealed case files of additional patients; The Good Drug (1 x 90’; HD; B Good Picture Co.), an in-depth look at society’s relationship with psychedelic substances, exploring historical uses and modern research on therapeutic properties for a host of mental health issues giving the audiences the information to decide for themselves whether psychedelics have the potential to be good; Uri Geller’s Secret Treasures (1 x 90′; 4K; Coleman Television), an extraordinary look at the life of the Uri Geller, the man famous for bending spoons, and reading minds, told through exclusive interviews with the man himself who reveals details of his personal relationships with celebrities including Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley and his early days of fame, espionage and his return to Israel, where it all started; and The Fringe, Fame and Me (1 x 60’; HD; Oxford Film & TV), the inside story of how the Edinburgh Fringe became a national institution. Told by film, theatre and television stars who recount their triumphs, favourite jokes, and sometimes painful failures at the festival, the doc uncovers the hidden history of comedy, revealing how the gags we find funny and the comedians we love reflect our changing culture.
New Scripted Programming Highlights:
Blue Ant International also has an impressive line-up of scripted programming debuting in Cannes including: Baroness Von Sketch Show (46 x 30’; HD; Frantic Films), the smash single-camera comedy hit, that serves up fast-paced and irreverent sketches starring Carolyn Taylor, Meredith MacNeill, Aurora Browne and Jennifer Whalen that take an irreverent look at our narcissistic contemporary culture; and Doomlands Season 1 (10 x 15’; HD; Look Mom! Productions), an animated, adult comedy that follows Danny Doom and aspiring bartender Lhandi who sling beers across a hellish wasteland, facing ruthless desert gangs, memory-stealing creeps, and even mean bathroom graffiti.
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., the UK and Canada. Blue Ant International has a growing slate of over 5,000 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.