(La Rochelle, France – June 24, 2024) – Blue Ant Studios’ rights division today announced a slate of original commissions from global wildlife and nature brand, Love Nature, that it will be representing at Sunny Side of the Doc. Blue Ant Studios will manage international licensing and pre-sales for the recently greenlit, premium natural history programming titles, produced with the world’s preeminent wildlife partners, including Wild Pacific Media, Films à Cinq, Lion Mountain Media, Passion Planet and WildBear Entertainment
“We’re thrilled to be showcasing such high caliber content coming from Love Nature and Sunny Side is the ideal event for it,” says Lilla Hurst, Global Head of Acquisitions & Content Strategy, Blue Ant Studios. “This market is a perfect example of our partnership with Love Nature and how we leverage all aspects of our production, distribution and channels businesses across Blue Ant Media.”
“Love Nature is committed to commissioning natural history content with world-class production partners supporting our business as a premium destination for modern natural history,” says Alison Barrat, SVP, Production & Development, Love Nature. “Sunny Side of the Doc is a key festival for connecting with established production companies as well as discovering emerging talent who bring fresh perspectives to natural history filmmaking”
The new original Love Nature titles including, Pride Rules (w/t), The Kimberley, Reteti Elephant Rescue (w/t), 13 Hours to Survive, Planet Weird (w/t) and Coral City (w/t) will premiere on Love Nature worldwide and will roll out on Sky Nature in the UK, Italy, and Germany in addition to premieres across co-commissioning territories. Blue Ant Studios’ rights division oversees licensing opportunities for new titles outside of commissioning territories.
Blue Ant Studios and Love Nature have a combined presence at Sunny Side of the Doc that includes co-sponsoring and moderating the Nature & Conservation Pitch and participating in a “Meet the Executives” panel session that will give insight into Blue Ant Media’s production, distribution and global channels businesses. Blue Ant Studios and Love Nature are at Stand B12.
Love Nature’s original commissions underpin the brand’s commitment to bringing a modern approach to natural history by working with the world’s best wildlife production partners:
Pride Rules (working title) (5 x 60’)
Producer: Lion Mountain Media
This series takes audiences on a journey that reveals how iconic lion prides survive and thrive in the Chobe region of Botswana. Stunning cinematography brings epic African vistas to life and showcases the extraordinary story of the Chobe prides—a powerful representation of the lion species as a whole. Across an ever-evolving landscape dictated by seasonal change, these lions are forced to battle it out against the elements in their quest for survival. Against the backdrop of their environmental challenges, the series examines the intricacies of pride dynamics as the resident lions grapple with pride politics, both internally and when facing rival prides in the territory.
The Kimberley (3X60) (working title)
Producer: Wild Pacific Media
Broadcast Partners: ABC Australia & ARTE FRANCE
This stunning three-part series immerses viewers in The Kimberley, a barely-seen environmental wonderland and one of the wildest places on earth in the North-Western corner of Australia. This biodiversity wonderland is a place where billion-year-old sandstone formations tower like cathedrals over rivers full of crocodiles and micro-predators hunt unseen among savanna grasses. Captured by Australia’s most awarded wildlife and aerial cinematographers and using innovative filmmaking techniques, the episodes reveal never-before-seen wildlife behavior and the inner workings of these ecosystems in breathtaking detail, while also the missions of passionate conservationists who are devoted to preserving this natural wonder. The series received production support from Screen Australia.
Reteti Elephant Rescue (working title) (2 x 60’)
Producer: Passion Planet
Co-Production Partner: The WNET Group
Set in the remote foothills of Northern Kenya, Reteti Elephant Rescue follows a group of orphaned elephants, all on different paths through rehabilitation. Nurtured by skilled Samburu women and the other orphans, each calf is on their own journey away from heart-break; through recovery, towards a triumphant return to the wild. This emotional and uplifting two-part special documents the intimate reality of what it takes to persuade a tiny elephant to go against their instincts and put their trust in strangers to overcome the trauma of their childhood and learn the skills needed to get back to the wild lands from which they came.
13 Hours to Survive (2 x 60’’)
Producer: Films à Cinq/CAPA
Co-Production Partners: ARTE GEIE
This two-part special is an up-close look at the epic drama that occurs with the coming of each low tide. As the ocean recedes, sea animals become trapped in tide pools. In these miniature oceans the natural order is overturned and a struggle to survive is unleashed. The creatures have thirteen hours to survive, the time it takes for the tide to return. This underwater arena could be anywhere in the world, but this stunning series takes place near Roscoff in Brittany, France, with breathtaking windswept coasts that experience a daily tidal shift of 10 meters or more.
Planet Weird (working title) (6 x 60’)
Producer: WildBear Entertainment
This series is a quirky, light-hearted celebration of the planet’s most bizarre creatures in the animal kingdom. Along with witty, tongue-in-cheek narration, by renowned UK comic Ross Noble, the series plays with pop culture, graphics, and human comparisons to make the absolute extremities of nature leap right off the screen and into the modern world. In short, digestible stories, viewers meet the critters who are faster than a speeding bullet, and more powerful than a locomotive. But inside every moment of ‘weird’ is a revelation of cleverness, amazing adaptation and scientific surprise.
Coral City (working title) (4 x 60’)
Producer: WildBear Entertainment
Stunning never-before-seen underwater footage of marine life, seascapes, and animal behaviors of The Great Barrier Reef take center stage in this visually beautiful series. Like any big city, this iconic reef has distinct neighborhoods, including true reef, lagoon, sand cay and coastal rainforest. Each community has its own ebb and flow in response to tides, time of day, and seasons. Audiences will see what it’s like to plunge beneath the waves on a year-long journey through The Great Barrier Reef, one of the planet’s largest, most densely inhabited ecosystems. Over four episodes, Coral City reveals each season’s profound impact on the behaviors, feeding patterns, and life cycles of the marine creatures that inhabit the reef.
Love Nature, headquartered in Washington D.C. with offices in Los Angeles, London and Toronto is a premium global natural history brand that delivers high-quality, captivating stories about wildlife and nature on all its platforms. Love Nature is a destination for award-winning natural history series and documentaries. It is available on top-tier pay-TV platforms and streamers all over the world. Engage with us at lovenature.com / Twitter / Facebook / YouTube / Instagram
Blue Ant Studios is an international production studio and rights business with offices in Toronto, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, London, Singapore and Sydney. The company’s diverse production slate spans scripted comedy and drama, unscripted entertainment, formats, high-impact documentaries, live-action kids + family, and animation. The studio is anchored in original storytelling, with award-winning series that include Blown Away (Netflix), Canada’s Drag Race (Crave), the upcoming scripted teen comedy series, Davey and Jonesie’s Locker (Hulu and Prime Video), Casey Anthony: Where the Truth Lies (Peacock), Drink Masters (Netflix), Race Against the Tide (CBC), The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks (Prime Video), 9/11 Kids (CBC), See No Evil (Investigation Discovery US), and the adult-animated series, Gary and His Demons (Prime Video, Amazon Freevee). The company’s recent feature-length documentary, Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe (Prime Video), was awarded the Toronto International Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award for Best Documentary in 2023. Blue Ant Studios’ distribution arm has a vast catalogue of over 7,000 hours of premium programming from the studio and third-party, top-tier producers around the world. Blue Ant Studios is a subsidiary of the global media company, Blue Ant Media. blueantmedia.com Twitter⼁Instagram LinkedIn