GERMANY'S FIRST & FINEST SERIES EVENT

Autentic Distribution

DOCUMENTARY specialist Autentic Distribution has secured the rights to the portfolio of Terra Mater Studios, including Soul Of The Ocean (1 x 50 mins) and The View From On High (1 x 50 mins). Other highlights from the German distributor include Against All Odds (1 x 55 mins), about the war in Ukraine; Inside Guggenheim (1 x 52 mins), a tour of the legendary museum in Bilbao; and Women Above Clouds (5 x 30 mins), portraying female pilots who defy stereotypes in the most remote regions of the world. New titles from their production division include: A Cold War Of Spies (4 x 47 mins), about the era of intelligence warfare; and, ready for pre-sales, Mission Saving Paradise – Expedition To The Last Treasures Of The Indian Ocean (1 x 90 mins).

Webedia

FRANCE’s Webedia brings a catalogue to MIPTV with a focus on millennials with a passion for gaming, music, outdoor sports and general entertainment. POG is a YouTuber, and in POG’s Gumball 3000, The American Dream (1 x 82 mins), he joins the rally across North America in his Lamborghini. Another highlight is McFly & Carlito (1 x 66 mins), featuring French YouTubers who cruise around Paris and invite celebrities to take on a series of silly challenges.

Winsing Animation

ON THE slate from China’s Winsing Animation are: Xu Wu Bian Jing, with stories of repeated conflicts between humans and monsters; GG Bond: Racing 72H, set in a floating city in the air, featuring agent GG Bond, who discovers the core energy supporting the city has been stolen and he must retrieve it within 72 hours; and Team S.T.E.A.M., an upbeat series about a tightly knit team who enjoy solving problems and sharing knowledge by using the STEM curriculum.

Drama

series Days

That

Never Were tells the story of four women, each with their own issues and dark secrets, whose friendship is put to the test when a team of investigators look into the death of their former headmaster. In addition to original drama, the Austrian broadcaster ORF continues to produce blue-chip documentaries under the Universum strand, including: High Life In The Dead Mountains, a journey through a unique mountain habitat in Austria, with pristine lakes, primeval forests, meadows and fascinating wildlife; and The Raven’s Tale, profiling the dense forests, valleys and palaces of the Czech Republic, linking the natural history of the region with the magic of fairytales by telling the story of a small, innocent hero pitted against dark forces.

Casta Diva

ITALIAN producer Casta

Diva brings new and returning content into the spotlight at MIPTV, including several cooking shows for Food Network. Pazzi Di Pizza 2, features a contest between two pizzerias from the same area. In C’e Ciccia 3, chef Luca Terni showcases regional meat from Tuscany. In Scarpetta D’Italia 2, two restaurants battle to win the title of best cuisine. Ci Vediamo Al Bar 2 follows a local culinary expert and actor as they cross Sicily to discover regional food. A new show for Food Network is Green Table, in which actor Vittorio Vaccaro profiles environmental agriculture companies in Lombardy. In other genres: for Discovery Italy Casta Diva is working on the local adaptation of dating show Guys In Disguise; and for Motor Trend, a third series of Fare, looking at aesthetic detailing on cars. The company has also opened a scripted-format division, and for Rai is developing a biopic on Italian singer Milva.

Imps

ALONGSIDE all the favourite characters, in the second season of The Smurfs (52 x 11 mins/CGI) new character Wild Smurf is discovered living the heart of the forest. A character with a strong connection to animal life, Wild Smurf’s strange ways shake up the Smurfs’ daily routine. Also in the forest is Leaf, the fairy destined to replace Mother Nature. The Smurfs and friends are constantly pursued by the determined Gargamel and Azrael, and by twin ogres Bigmouth and Egghead. The series is produced in English and French and is targeted at five- to 11-year-olds. Also available are nine seasons of newly remastered versions from film originals of the classic series. The Smurfs, The Classic Series (272 x 24 mins) is a Hanna-Barbera production in collaboration with Lafig.

Bossanova Media

LONDON-based BossaNova brings Castle Secrets (8 x 60 mins) to Cannes, a series that in each episode explores three incredible or infamous castles, looking deeper behind the walls and inside hidden passageways, to unlock the story of design, the treasures and the secrets. Stories revealed include an accused witch locked in a dungeon, a sword wrapped in canvas and hidden, a forbidden ceremony, a secret burial and a ghostly figure running through mysterious tunnels by candlelight.

CJ ENM

COMPETITION series

The Time Hotel features 10 participants who check in to the Time Hotel, where time is the currency for survival. They are all given ‘time watches’, and a welcome time of 24 hours. Throughout their eight-day stay, they must earn more time by winning diverse daily games, using their intelligence, physical abilities, wit and luck. Alliances are crucial and they must stay alert to make sure others are not working against them. Competitors who run out of time are eliminated, and the last survivor wins. The Time Hotel is brought to MIPTV by Korea’s CJ ENM.

Vice Distribution

A HIGHLIGHT for Vice Distribution at MIPTV is 100 Days To Indy (6 x 60 mins), produced by Vice World News for CW. The series follows the journey of the drivers, teams and fans towards the most famous auto race in the US, The Indianapolis 500. Each episode is set against the backdrop of one of the early-season races, with stories of the teams preparing, testing, qualifying and ultimately racing each week while taking into consideration the long-term ark of preparing for the Indy 500.

NEWLY launched US-based distribution company TGC GE presents a primetime competition series at MIPTV, which debuted on CBC this year. Ultimate Challenge, originally launched as Canada’s Ultimate Challenge transformed the entire country into a giant obstacle course. The format uses both iconic and unexpected locations around a nation and creates unique, intense and fun physical and mental challenges. Teams of strangers are led by celebrity athlete coaches as they take part in solo, tandem and team events in a format that’s adaptable for any country.

Distribution

DOUBLE Fault (8 x 60 mins) is the story of Charles, a professional tennis player whose career is off to a good start. However, through a combination of anxiety and addiction, and a mother with excessive ambition, his dreams are dashed. However, Double Fault is ultimately the story of Charles’s chance at recovery and redemption. KO Distribution also presents Fragments (10 x 60’), a drama about friends who meet up, in unusual circumstances, after 30 years. From the factual catalogue comes: Ultimate Rescue (12 x 30 mins), which profilesss rescues in extreme conditions; and Breaking The Glass Ceiling (6 x 60 mins), looking at the lives of 12 women who decide to emigrate to further their careers. A format highlight is Zenith, featuring 24 professional singers who compete to win over an audience of 100 people who represent four generations.

Orange Smarty

AMONG the titles brought to Cannes by the UK’s Orange Smarty are: Cursed Treasures (10 x 60 mins), in which archaeologists and scientists uncover the truth behind the deadly curses bestowed on the finders of some of the world’s most fascinating treasures; and Scarlett’s Driving School (10 x 30 mins), a format fuelled with laughter, in which presenter Scarlett Moffatt gets behind the wheel with struggling learner drivers and the loved ones trying to teach them.

Rainmaker Content

AT MIPTV Rainmaker presents Killer Evidence (10 x 60 mins) which follows the painstaking investigations that solved 10 shocking crimes in the UK and US. Each episode features a different murder case and each clue is forensically analysed as the stories of brutal murders are told by the leading police or forensic experts on the case. Finally the killer evidence is revealed, that which proved the murderer’s guilt beyond doubt.

FRENCH film specialist Gaumont brings newly restored movies to MIPTV, all now available in 4K versions. Five of the headline masterpieces are: police thriller 36th Precinct (2004), starring Gerard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil and Andre Dussollier; murder mystery The Crimson Rivers (2000), starring Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel; Luc Besson’s Nikita (1990), starring Anne Parillaud, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Tcheky Karyo, Jeanne Moreau and Jean Reno; hit-man drama The Outside Man (1973), starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Ann-Margret, Roy Scheider and Angie Dickinson; and A Very Private Affair (1962), by Louis Malle, starring Brigitte Bardot and Marcello Mastroianni.

Rte

CHEAP European Homes (6 x 30 mins), brought to MIPTV by Ireland’s RTE, follows up the series Cheap Irish Homes, with presenter Maggie Molloy taking her house-finding skills to Europe. Her journey takes her to France, Spain and Portugal. In each location she is joined by a locally based architect, who advises on the condition of the houses, renovation possibilities and local planning and tax laws. The key focus is finding value for money.

Beta Film

MULTIPLE pan-European projects headline Beta Film’s slate. First ever Finnish-Swedish-Estonian co-production Estonia (8 x 60 mins), set against one of the biggest civilian maritime disasters in post-war history. Thriller Concordia (6 x 60 mins) explores surveillance, privacy and data security in a municipality of the future. From Italy comes Elsa Morante’s La Storia (8 x 60 mins), based on the bestselling and critically acclaimed novel. I Am Scrooge (6 x 60 mins) tells the true story of a department store extortionist. Set against the backdrop of the Austrian Alps, female-driven mystery thriller Snow (6 x 60 mins) takes the climate crisis as its subject. Continuing the La Unidad franchise (18 x 60 mins), standalone La Unidad –Kabul (6 x 60 mins) is set in the re-taking of Kabul by the Taliban.

Poorhouse International

POORHOUSE International brings a feature-length documentary about the life of Albert Uderzo to MIPTV. The Adventures Of Albert Uderzo – Keeping Asterix Alive (1 x 82 mins/4K), profiles the best-selling comic books which spawned five live-action movies, 10 animated films, a theme park and video games, and have been translated into 117 languages and sold 380 million copies worldwide. Alberto Uderzo, a French man of Italian extraction, was the designer and eventual writer of Asterix. In 1951 he met writer and designer René Goscinny and in 1959 they founded the magazine Pilote and struck gold with the adventures of Asterix. Uderzo died in 2020 at the age of 93, though Asterix lives on in a new live-action film released by Pathé. Filmmaker Yannick Saillet, Uderzo´s widow Ada, their daughter Silvie and Goscinny´s daughter Anne and Antoine de Caunes are among the many contributors to the film.

A+E NETWORKS

SET ON the coast of Ireland’s North Sea, drama series North Sea Connection, brought to MIPTV by A+E Networks, charts the turbulent journey of the Kenny family. The tight-knit family has been fishing for generations, but find their lives forever changed when one of the children secretly agrees to carry out a drug run at sea for a deadly Nordic cartel. It goes wrong, and they then owe a serious debt to some of the world’s most dangerous people. From the factual slate A+E highlights Top Dog, a format that features trained dogs and their owners competing nose-to-nose in a series of rounds on a specially designed, supersized obstacle course.

Corus Studios

NEW SERIES Renovation Resort (7 x 60 mins) follows real estate expert Scott McGillivray who has purchased a lakeside vacation resort and is now on a mission to resurrect the dilapidated property. With the help of his friendly rival Bryan Baeumler, they oversee four contractor and designer duos who compete over seven weeks to create one-of-a-kind cabins. The winning team take the title Renovation Resort Champion and a reward of $100,000. The Canadian company also brings the second season of Pamela’s Garden Of Eden (8 x 60 mins), about Pamela Anderson’s transformation of her grandmother’s six-acre property on Vancouver Island.

MEDIAWAN KIDS & FAMILY

PIRATE Academy (52 x 11mins), aimed at 5- to 8-year-olds, follows Finn, Sam and Andrew, three kids from very different backgrounds who join the Pirate Academy, a school that counts the most legendary figures in pirate history among its alumni. But at the Academy competition between classes is fierce and the threesome find themselves in the Plankton class, with Captain Charlotte Le Crackers as their teacher, a semi-retired buccaneer who has some odd teaching methods.

Millimages

IN THE second season of Pirata & Capitano Pirata and her childhood friend, Capitano, and the loyal crew of her ship, journey on The Great Sea. They meet surprising characters as they explore mysterious and spectacular islands. They all learn to live together by understanding and helping each other. Another animation highlight from Paris-based Millimages is the sixth season of Molang. Piu Piu and Molang’s timeless friendship runs from the Stone Age through to the 20th century, from Greek Antiquity to the Royal Court of Versailles. The two kind and inseparable friends explore myths and history with wit and good spirit.

3DD

A 3DD Production in association with Sky Arts, the first episode of new series Classic Movies: The Story Of (6 x 60 mins) goes in search of the stories behind The Third Man, exploring the factors that make it a classic film. The show is presented and authored by Ian Nathan, who guides the audience through the streets of Vienna and speaks to Angela Allen, script supervisor on the film in 1948, who has anecdotes about Orson Welles to share. Critic Derek Malcolm, who knew director Carol Reed and writer Graham Greene, is also a contributor. Aside from Classic Movies: The Story Of The Third Man, the series features Brighton Rock, The Graduate, The Ladykillers, Ran and Terminator 2.

Blue Ant International

DUBAI: Buying The Dream(6 x 60 mins/HD) is an aspirational reality series, showcasing the drama and properties on offer at a real estate company in Dubai. Another highlight from Canada’s Blue Ant is Ireland’s Wild Islands (3 x 60/2 x 60 mins/4K/ HDR), filmed in savage storm-ravaged locations and looking at the challenges wild creatures face to survive on these isolated outposts. The three-part version is hosted by Eoin Warner, one of Ireland’s leading wildlife and outdoor presenters.

Ireland’s Wild Islands (Blue Ant International)

Electric Entertainment

AMONG the series that Electic Entertainment is highlighting at MIPTV is The Ark (12 x 60 mins), a sci-fi drama in which remaining crew members fight to survive after a catastrophic event causes massive damage to the spaceship during its mission to save humankind. The second season of Leverage: Redemption (29 x 60 mins) sees the return of the Hitter, the Hacker, the Grifter and the Thief, working as modern-day Robin Hoods, with help from a new tech genius and corporate fixer in this series. The Los Angeles, California-headquartered distributor also brings the second season of Almost Paradise (20 x 60 mins), about a retired US DEA agent in the Philippines, who, against doctor’s orders, uses his skills to help catch criminals.

MIAM! DISTRIBUTION

A MIAM! highlight for MIPTV is The MiniWhats (52 x 7 mins), from Doncvoilà Productions and Silex Films, a 2D comedy based on a graphic novel for kids. The MiniWhats are a joyful gang of six children who draw their own adventures. The series is set for a delivery later this year. The French distributor is also presenting Goat Girl (52 x 11 mins), which is currently in production. The 2D quirky comedy features 13-year-old Gigi, who tackles every challenge with a goat-like stubbornness and strength.

Ix Media

The Documenta

RY See The Unseen (1 x 86 mins) was shot in the Tibetan region of the Himalayas and took five years to produce. In the depths of this barren and vast mountain area the story follows a guru who nurtures a young monk, helping him to study while embracing philosophies surrounding life and death, and the ultimate goals of enlightenment. Another programme from China’s IX Media is Warm On A Cold Night, a romantic drama adapted from a well-known novel that features plot twists, entangled conflicts and elements of adventure and fantasy — as well as romance.

BEHIND The Beats (26 x 5 mins) is an animated music anthology aimed at tweens and families, produced by TeamTO and 22D Media Group, in association with YouTube Kids & Family Originals and France Télévisions. The series tells the stories of how talented musicians with different styles came together, revealing the often-unexpected origins of new musical genres, including new wave, rock’n’roll, G-funk, reggae, electro pop and trap. Rights are available for sale worldwide, excluding France. TeamTO also brings Ninn (1 x 70 mins), based on graphic novels, an animated film about an 11-year-old girl with a mysterious connection to the Paris Metro and an unusual passion for the city’s underground world. She knows every inch of the Metro and skateboarding through its convoluted tunnels is her favourite hobby. But how did an origami tiger turn into her protector and guide in the search for the secrets of her past?

Franky Films

AT MIPTV under the Quebec Creatif umbrella, Franky Films is presenting several titles at MIPTV. Besha (8 x 50 mins) is a period crime drama about a Polish immigrant who arrives in Canada around the beginning of the 20th century. Hungry for a better life, she abandons her husband and two young daughters to run away with her Italian lover, Rocco. Together they become the most powerful gangster couple in Canada and are involved in the illegal alcohol trade for the duration of Prohibition. In fantasy mystery Ghost And Friends (8 x 50 mins) a group of estranged teenagers find that their lives have new meaning when they join forces to stand against evil forces that threaten humanity. Finally, in documentary series Clubhouse Stories (10 x 30 mins) professional athletes tell behind-the-scenes and frank stories from their careers.

THE SECOND season of preschool animation Lupin’s Tales (78 x 7 mins/26 x 2.30 mins), co-produced by Xilam and online streamer Youku for France Télévisions, is due for delivery early in 2024. Lupin’s Tales follows a wolf cub who dreams of being like the storybook heroes he admires. The impetuous Lupin is far from perfect and it is not always easy for him to reach his goals. Luckily he can count on the narrator to guide him and help him learn from his mistakes. The second season will include new environments as Lupin journeys into space. Alibaba holds rights for mainland China and Xilam Animation handles the rest of the world.

BALANGA, the Paris-based distributor, brings a new biography of Pablo Picasso to MIPTV. The Mysteries Of Picasso (2 x 52 mins) is the France 3 primetime show produced for the 50th anniversary of his death this year. The two-parter explores the life and work of the infamous painter through unpublished and rare archives relating to his Spanish childhood, his commitment to communism after Guernica and the latest debates that took place after the #Meetoo movement about his relationships with women. Also included are testimonies from his daughter Paloma, and his grandchildren Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, Olivier and Diana.

SPANISH national broadcaster RTVE returns to MIPTV with a live-action children’s adventure series. The Argonauts (20 x 22 mins) stars a gang of youngsters who are unexpectedly visited by pranksters who destroy their cabin. What seems like a tragedy leads them to a great discovery, a series of buried mosaics that are part of the ruins of a Roman house. The Argonauts are determined to unravel the riddle surrounding these findings.

Prime Entertainment Group

Neurodub

NEURODUB is an AI-powered dubbing system which aims to provide its clients with cost-effective, high-quality video dubbing. Addressing the goals to globalise content, Neurodub enables clients to break language barriers and grow revenue streams in their target markets. Initial experiments dubbing informational content in scientific documentaries, biopics, news and sports segments have been successful. And, in a recent webinar Neurodub demonstrated live news streaming compatibility by taking a sample French news segment and simultaneously dubbing it into English. Neurodub offers 70+ language and locale options, 400+ voice-over options, and the Human Touch tool where translation experts review content to ensure accurate results.

Youhug Media

A PRIORITY for Youhug Media at MIPTV is Gen Z, a Chinese modern romance set against generational conflict and inheritance issues. Gen Z follows the story of Ren Xinzheng, a professor at the University of Chinese Medicine, who devotes himself to spreading knowledge about traditional medicine methods. To continue this mission he sets up a series of classes on the subject, hoping to inspire people to carry on the customs. The series comes from screenwriter Liu Liu, her previous successful drama being I Will Find You A Better Home.

PRIME returns to MIPTV with a catalogue of factual programming, including new true-crime series The Conspiracy Of Silence (8 x 35 mins), which traces the investigation of serial killers who evaded capture, partly because certain locals tried to preserve their own reputations. Further factual titles include: Kelp! I Need Somebody (1 x 52 mins) and Chocolate To Save The Amazon (1 x 52 mins). Animation priorities include: Runes (26 x 22mins), which follows the 12-year-old heir to the throne of Normandy, disguised as a peasant boy: Ariol (2 x 24 mins), about a blue donkey and his friends; Vanille, A Caribbean Tale (1 x 31 mins); and Looking for Santa (1 x 26 mins). From the entertainment genre comes: Close Up (120 x 26 mins), a series that profiles actors; Hollywood’s Stories (13 x 26 mins); and Hollywood On Set (52 x 26 mins).

Off The Fence

OFF THE Fence’s MIPTV highlights feature a series uncovering some of the most iconic mysteries of the world in Truthseekers (12 x 60 mins), produced by Big Media in co-production with RMC Story. Other titles include: Pernel Media’s Butterflies: Superheroes Of Nature (3 x 60 mins/1 x 60 mins), exploring butterflies’ unknown superpowers; and Blue Carbon (1 x 90 mins), produced by Make Waves Media, which unpicks the science and hope around the powers of the ocean to absorb significantly more carbon from the atmosphere than trees.

The Kitchen

MIAMI-headquartered localisation company The Kitchen returns to MIPTV as construction has begun on a full-service European hub in Madrid, Spain. The new office will receive content for processing, frame-rate conversion, edit to specs, graphic -re-versioning and proxy creation, among other services. The Kitchen already has studios in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Russia, Turkey and Israel, and the new European headquarters will provide access and service 24/7. Along with Miami, which services Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, the US and Canada, the hubs all use cloudbased secured platforms.

Cyber Group Studios

DEVELOPER, producer and distributor Cyber Group Studios is highlighting Splash Entertainment’s catalogue at MIPTV, including more than 500 hours of content, available in multiple languages. Splash’s slate includes: animated series Chloe’s Closet (104 x 13 mins/52 x 30 mins); Sabrina: Secrets Of A Teenage Witch (26 x 26 mins); and feature-length animations about Norm Of The North (3 x 90 mins). The Paris-based company is also introducing the first episodes of the second season of Droners (26 x 22 mins/2D/CGI), an original adventure animation co-produced with La Chouette Compagnie and Supamonks. Aimed at kids from six- to 10-years-old, the series is anime-style with an emphasis on female leadership and ecological issues.

RSI RADIOTELEVISIONE SVIZZERA (RSI)

RSI BRINGS its new documentary The Whaler to showcase in Cannes. In 2022 Iceland killed around160 whales, the second largest animal in the world. The international commission that regulates whaling considers it an endangered species and has therefore banned hunting whales like these across the world. This documentary follows the Icelandic whalers and documents the cruel methods of hunting that are violations of international regulations.

Federation Studios

THE DRAMA slate from Federation includes The Cinderella Murder (8 x 48 mins), which revolves around the trial of a man and daughter accused of murder. The daughter claims she acted alone, but the prosecutors think she is trying to protect her father. Other priorities include: Six Women (6 x 52 mins), about a group mountain hike; Shake, a story of young love and jealousy in a triangle; and the second season of teenage drama Delete Me (6 x 23 mins). Documentaries include Vibrant (1 x 102 mins), a breathtaking dive into biodiversity, from Yann Arthus Bertrand, and Jacques Maleterre’s The Last Secrets Of Humankind (1 x 90 mins), launching at MIPTV, the biggest Franco-Chinese co-production ever, a docu-drama about Chinese pre-history.

Goquest Media

GOQUEST Media is offering two crime dramas at MIPTV produced by Poland’s Telewizja Polska (TVP). Erinyes (12 x 45 mins) is based on the crime novels by Marek Krajewski and stars Marcin Dorocinski. Set in pre- and post-war Lviv and Wrocław, he is a detective of extraordinary intellect and physical strength who is tormented by visions caused by epilepsy attacks, which he uses to his advantage in investigations. Secondly, contemporary police procedural Crusade (13 x 45 mins) is a series focusing on the investigations conducted by Detective Jan ‘Manjaro’ Góra and his colleagues from the Crime and Criminal Terror Division of the Warsaw Metropolitan Police. They investigate a series of murders and kidnappings of celebrities which at first do not seem linked. However, behind these crimes stands an anti-authority terrorist organisation.

UK PRODUCER and distributor Aardman brings a varied slate to MIPTV, including: Mitten & Shoe (52 x 7 mins), aimed at three- to five-year-olds, which follows a friends in a playground — an assortment of left-behind children’s belongings — looked after by an old brolly called Mc Drizzle; The Abominable Snow Baby (1 x 25 mins), a festive tale from author Terry Pratchett; preschool animated music show Yuki (52 x 7 mins), which offers a gentle introduction to musical concepts and themes of friendship; and Ready Eddie Go! (26 x 7 mins), which features a kind, giggly, brilliantly imaginative little boy, who also happens to be autistic. Whatever the day has in store — an easter-egg hunt, a train journey or a trip to the dentist — he always likes to know what’s going to happen in advance.

Queerstralia (ABC Commercial)

Abc Commercial

ABC COMMERCIAL presents Queerstralia (3 x 60 mins), a documentary series that sees comedian Zoë Coombs Marr uncover hidden LGBTQIA+ histories. Zoë meets gay diggers, lesbian convict gangs, trans pioneers, cross-dressing bushrangers, legendary drag acts and the modern-day heroes who have fought for change and acceptance. Untold stories also come to the fore in Inconceivable: The Secret Business Of Breeding Humans (1 x 60 mins), which charts one woman’s journey to learn the truth of her origins and to expose the secrecy in the multimillion-dollar fertility industry. ABC also brings a strong formats slate which includes revamped competition programme The New Inventors, and returning favourites Keep On Dancing and Australia’s Favourite Tree.

BEIJING TIME FLYING FISH (TFF)

BEIJING Time Flying Fish (TFF) has launched Crybabies-BFF in China, produced by the Spanish company, IMC. As content distributor and brand operator Beijing TFF has represented a raft of international animation content into the Chinese market. This year it will launch more IMC series, including VIP Pets, two more series of Crybabies and two series of Bubiloons.

MULTI-genre distributor

CLPB Rights comes to MIPTV with new psychological thriller, The Horla (1 x 90 mins), a modern take on a Guy de Maupassant novel, starring Bastien Bouillon. In this CPB Films-ARTE production, an invisible entity with a powerful presence is revealed in the story of a seemingly perfect family that has just moved to a new town. From its documentary slate, CLPB Rights highlights Marcus Klingberg, A Perfect Spy (1 x 52 mins/feature-length version), revisiting one of the greatest spy stories and most fascinating mysteries of the Cold War.

Mediatoon Distribution

PRODUCTION is under way on a new series that France’s Mediatoon Distribution has brought to Cannes in order to showcase the concept look to buyers. Versailles Unleashed (26 x 22 mins) tells the story of a friendship between two animals at the court of Versailles. Belfort is a young spaniel and King Louis XIV’s favourite dog. Lupin is his friend, a wolf who lives in the palace gardens. Worlds apart, Belfort and Lupin are united by the adventures they share. Ellipse Animation and Belvision are producing this 2D rendered 3D series, and Mediatoon is handling the worldwide distribution.

Cineflix Rights

TEMPTING Fortune (6 x 60 mins) is a new format in which 12 strangers are dropped in a remote wilderness with the goal of a cash prize if they can reach a finish line — some 21-days trek away — without spending any of the money. As they travel they are offered enticing temptations designed to make their journey easier. Each one comes with an exorbitant price tag and every time someone gives in, the cost is removed from their shared prize pot. But when you’re exhausted and haven’t eaten for three days, how much would you be willing to pay for a meal or a bed for the night? The worldwide rights excluding North America are brought to MIPTV by the UK’s Cineflix Rights.

ABS-CBN

HAVING premiered the first-ever Filipino series at MIPCOM last year, Cattleya Killer, producer and distributor ABS-CBN is highlighting an international co-production at MIPTV. The Bagman (8 x 60 mins), a spin-off from a locally produced digital series Bagman, is an action-packed drama produced by ABS-CBN International Production Division, Dreamscape Entertainment, Rein Entertainment and Nathan Studios. The Bagman will star Arjo Atayde, reprising his character Benjo Malaya, who in this series learns that his family is missing and then has no choice but to return to the vicious underworld that he had turned his back on, as a Bagman for the sitting president of the Republic of the Philippines.

Alpha Group

FRANCE’s Alpha Group is presenting new adventure/comedy animation series Quantum Heroes Dinoster at MIPTV. With the first delivery of 26 episodes due in May and the second batch due later this year, the show features a group of four friends who travel through a quantum portal to Dino Earth, a beautiful planet were dinosaurs still live. To safeguard the dinosaurs, they must overcome the challenges set by the eccentric scientist, Bex Hunter.

TOPPING the roster for Turkey’s TRT in Cannes are three drama series. Barbaros: Sultan’s Order is a period drama about the heroic struggle of Barbaros Hayreddin, who is appointed Captain during the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent and establishes a secret intelligence organisation. This work puts his family in danger as, with his colleagues, he sets his sights on the conquest of Rome. Secrets Of An Angel is a drama in which, after almost 40 years of marriage and three children, the mother dies, and a letter emerges after the funeral that turns all that they know upside down. The Patriots is set in 2025, when the climate, migration, hunger and energy crises have deepened. In order to protect Turkey special military teams are formed to defend against rogue global powers and terrorists.

Shanghai Xixi Pictures Culture Media

NEW ROMANCE fantasy series, The Last Immortal, produced by Shanghai Xixi Pictures Culture Media, is adapted from Xingling’s novel of the same name. The series tells the story of Ayin, an aggressive and aspirational water phoenix, and Kujin, the son of a True God. They meet by accident and embark on a journey together to find immortality, eventually finding friendship, love and family. In 2022, the TV series Who Rules The World, also produced by Xixi Pictures, won the highest score for Chinese TV dramas on Netflix.

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White Light Distribution

THIS YEAR White Light Distribution brings its strongest slate of music film programming to MIPTV, including new-to-market titles: Biffy Clyro: Cultural Sons Of Scotland; Isle Of Wight Festival 2023; Nick Cave & Warren Ellis: This Much I Know To Be True, directed by leading filmmaker Andrew Dominik; plus the newly remastered classic Eric Clapton film 24 Nights. The film features performance from across 24 shows filmed live from London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1990/1991 and contains previously unseen performance not in the original release. White Light continues to widen distribution on behalf of Sony Music Entertainment, and also brings solid catalogue titles from artists including Depeche Mode, Elvis, George Michael, Oasis, Roy Orbison, P!nk, Paul Simon and Roger Waters.

Avalon Distribution

THE UK’s Avalon Distribution is launching reality survival format Naked, Alone And Racing To Get Home (6 x 60 mins) at MIPTV. Produced for E4 by Avalon Factual, each self-contained episode follows two teams of two people (either strangers or couples) who are stripped of everything they rely on in the modern world, including their clothes, and are dropped in the wilderness. They must survive by navigating to checkpoints, hunting for bonus items, foraging for food, building shelters and avoiding trouble with the law on their way to the finish line to claim a cash prize.

Global Agency

COMPETITION format

Encore

CANADA’s Encore brings a slate of titles to promote in Cannes. Included are a number of series: Thin Air (L’Air D’Aller/10 x 22 mins) is an offbeat and inspiring comedy about four friends who all have cystic fibrosis; The Emperor (L’Empereur/9 x 45 mins) is about a woman who retrospectively accuses her boss of rape; Gorgeous (Les Bombes/6 x 45 mins) is about four women in their 30s who wind up in the same room at a rehabilitation centre; and family drama Pearls (Les Perles/13 x 22 mins) is about a family of women, in stories filled with humour and authenticity.

Blind Duets brings together four celebrity singers who sit in a jury and also perform with 12 contestants in a show highlighting talent and star quality as well as rivalry. The identity of each contestant, hidden in cabinets in the studio, is only revealed when a jury member chooses them, and they emerge to perform on stage with the celebrity. Each jury member sings three songs with the contestants and the highest-scoring celebrity summons their partners to perform and an overall winner is chosen.

Cake Entertainment

LONDON-based Cake Entertainment is showcasing Bock-Bock Chicken (52 x 5 mins) in Cannes. Set on Shape-Shape Farm, the quirky trio of Bock-Bock Chicken, Moo-Moo the cow and Baa-Baa the lamb have fun together. In their adventures a hoop can become a skipping rope, a cardboard box can become a dice and a button can become a wheel. Bock-Bock Chicken aims to bring the fundamentals of geometry to two- to four-year-olds. Created by Sarah Legg-Barratt, the series is being developed and produced by Paper Owl Films and Cake.

Superights

SUPERIGHTS’ highlights for MIPTV include Deep In The Bowl (52 x 5 mins), which animates the lives fishes lead when humans aren’t looking. Five different fish gangs explore relationships, joys, hopes, dreams and life’s queries — the same way humans do — with lots of humour. Another priority is Home Sweet Rome! (13 x 26 mins), a new Italian-Canadian live-action production for teens, focusing on 13-year-old Lucy who moves to Rome with her dad and new stepmom Francesca, a famous Italian pop star. As she learns to adapt to her new life, she is also navigating the growing pains of being a teenager separated from her best friend Kyla, who is 6,000 miles away.

Guinness World Records

GUINNESS World Records is presenting its new kids series at MIPTV. Best In The World (40 x 15 mins), commissioned by the UK’s CBBC, showcases the greatest and wackiest record breakers in formatted games. The first product from the company’s documentary production outfit, GWR Studios, is Rumeysa: Walking Tall (1 x 90 mins), which follows the world’s tallest woman to the US, and her advocacy for positivity, diversity and research. Also, Guinness World Records Loves Animals is a co-production currently in development with Nature Film, New Zealand.

Inter Medya

CONTENT brought to the international market by Inter Medya includes a roster of dramas. On the list are: Deception, featuring a respectable family court judge living in Istanbul, who discovers that every member of her family, whom she loves, is lying to her; Poison Ivy, a love story that develops against the odds; Another Chance, about a geography teacher with a troubled past who decides to take care of five students from a reformatory; Tuzak, the story of the entanglements and conflicts of three siblings; Interrupted, about a journalist who is given the chance to come back to life after a fatal accident; Respect 2, which profiles an obsessional psychopath; and Dreams And Realities, which follows four well-educated, working young women in Istanbul whose lives are up-ended with the sudden death of their friend.

The Party Film Sales

Lineup Industries

THE GREAT DNA Experiment is a series that explores the possibilities of DNA on both a human and scientific level. With a combination of the emotional and theoretical, each episode explores an overarching theme, including cloning, disease or crime, which is then looked at through the lens of DNA. The episodes feature a celebrity who has their genetic sequence mapped, along with 10 members of the public. The Great DNA Experiment is a format created by De chinezen for VTM in Belgium. Lineup Industries represents global rights to The Great DNA Experiment alongside De chin ezen’s formats Radio Gaga and Emergency Call.

Boat Rocker

BOAT Rocker returns to MIPTV with a slate of reality titles for presentation. Included are Cross Country Cake Off (10 x 60 mins/HD), an original competition series that celebrates the unbridled creativity of some of the best cake-makers and showcases the stories that inspire them; the third and fourth 10 x 30 mins seasons of The Cowgirl Vet, which follows Dr Keri Hudson-Reykdal, who runs a vet clinic and mobile service in rural Manitoba; and Listing Large (10 x 30 mins/ HD), which follows Odeen and Lamont as they build a real-estate empire while juggling parenthood, friendship and love.

PARIS-based distributor The Party Film Sales brings documentary Orlando, My Political Biography to MIPTV, which was directed by trans writer and philosopher Paul B Preciado and just won four awards at the 2023 Berlinale. Further titles include: The Matrix, Inside & Out (1 x 52 mins), to be broadcast on ARTE, which highlights the prophetic aspect of the film saga and pop-culture phenomenon; and the launches of Pascal Plisson’s new project Happy!, currently in post-production, and Mothership by Muriel Cravatte, an unprecedented investigation into the NGO boat Ocean Viking and its women’s shelter, as it rescues refugees in the Mediterranean Sea. The company has also completed documentaries exploring new aspects of WWII — U-96, The True Story Of Das Boot and The Secrets Of The 1941 Green Ticket Roundup.

Deaplaneta Entertainment

SPANISH/Italian/French company DeAPlaneta Entertainment and The Magic Lilly Company from Germany are the co-producers of Magic Lilly. The upcoming animated comedy-fantasy-adventure series is based on the book series Hexe Lilli, which sold 28 million books around the world, and the animated series Lilly, The Witch. Magic Lilly follows the young girl who has had a whirlwind education in magic since meeting her best friend, a small and very smart dragon named Hector, who entrusted her with a coveted Book of Spells. The series has already confirmed its Spanish (Televisió de Catalunya) and Belgian (VRT) broadcasters, and a German broadcaster is soon to be announced.

Jetpack Distribution

THE UK’s Jetpack Distribution brings new live-action series DreaMars (20 x 22 mins) to MIPTV. The series takes place in 2045, when the resources of Earth have been depleted, and tells the story of eight teenagers who fly to Mars on a mission to prepare for settlement. When they land they discover that they are in the wrong place, and have lost communication with Earth. Emma is a 16-year-old space geek who infiltrates the expedition under a false identity. She then manages to communicate with the space minister’s daughter and together they lead the rest of the crew to reveal a dark secret about the failures of the expedition.

Living Earth (RGITV)

RIVE GAUCHE INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION (RGITV)

DOCUMENTARY series Living Earth (3 x 60 mins), brought to Cannes by RGITV, reveals pieces of the ecological puzzle that keeps us all alive. Looking, for instance, at how plants and animals survive in deserts, or how an apex predator can change the shape and size of sand dunes. Alongside a diverse cast of naturalists, scientists and First Nations peoples, the series combines new science with millennia-old knowledge to explore the fundamentals of ecology in a poetic journey that reveals the interconnectedness of every living thing on earth.

Viaplay

STOCKHOLM-based streamer Viaplay brings a range of programming to MIPTV, including: two seasons of Ronja, The Robber’s Daughter (12 x 45 mins), based on a book by Astrid Lindgren, which follows the adventures of a young girl born into a band of robbers, set in and around a fortress in medieval Scandinavia; Jana – Marked For Life (6 x 45 mins), in which after a high-ranking civil servant is murdered an assistant prosecutor realises that the killing has something to do with her own dark, half-forgotten past and she then steps in to participate in the investigation; and Börje Salming’s Story (6 x 45 mins), based on the true story of the journey of an outcast struggling to find his place in society who becomes a beloved and world-famous hockey player in the NHL.

Apc Kids

A FOCUS for APC Kids in Cannes is live-action sci-fi series Sky (72 x 22 mins), in which a UFO crashes into a forest near a small town. Inside is Sky, a young, adventurous alien from a planet 13 light-years away. While waiting to be rescued, Sky hides by transforming into the body of Millie, the entitled and snobby prom queen and the most popular girl in high school. With only three friends to help her, Sky must survive two weeks on Earth without being discovered. Other titles include: animation Jade Armor (26 x 26 mins), which follows Lan Jun as she takes her turn to be the mythical superhero Jade Armor, who with the help of her friends Theo and Alisha and the mystical Beasticons, is thrust into a series of action-packed adventures, combatting evil villains as well as the trials of teenage life; and On Our Own (56 x 22 mins), about four siblings who have to get along on their own with their irresponsible uncle after their parents are stuck abroad.

Mistco

DISTRIBUTOR Mistco holds a portfolio of dramas, movies, animation and documentaries. Highlights for MIPTV include two dramas. In Bahar (100 x 45 mins) a young girl witnesses the murder of her father and is trying to prove that it was her stepmother, while nurturing a love affair that began just days before the tragedy. Long-running series Secrets Of An Angel is about a family whose members see their lives changed abruptly by the death of the mother after years of domestic abuse. When a lawyer reveals that the women left her a letter, she contacts the eldest son and they become close, although the letter causes family conflict.