EXCLUSIVE: Newen Studios is leaping on the Cleopatra bandwagon by main its Sunny Facet of the Doc slate with a documentary in regards to the final queen of Egypt.
Cleopatra: Cracking the Enigma helms an eight-strong slate being shopped this week on the La Rochelle confab, as Newen makes an attempt to exert dominance within the worldwide doc market.
The four-part present for French community RMC Découverte, which is produced by Label Information, is predicated on unprecedented excavations and reveals never-before-seen footage of makes an attempt to elevate the veil on the mysterious lifetime of the long-lasting Egyptian ruler.
Cracking the Enigma comes recent off the again of Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra docu-drama, which generated headlines attributable to controversies surrounding the ethnicity of the lead, Adele James.
Chatting with Deadline, Newen Head of Factual Distribution Chloé Persyn mentioned the distributor will not be making an attempt to trip the wave of the Netflix present’s controversy however as a substitute benefit from “robust demand” for historic historical past, which has seen different large funds sequence on the likes of Queen Nzinga and Alexander the Nice commissioned in current occasions.
“If you take a look at Egyptology there are such a lot of tales to be informed,” she added. “The thought is to not compete with Netflix however we now have nice entry and tangible proof that hyperlinks a temple that sunk off Alexandria to Cleopatra. That is distinctive.”
Additionally that includes on the Newen slate is The Silent Battle, an investigation into the so-called “hybrid” battle that’s now raging underneath the radar in Europe and the chaos that Russia is making an attempt to sow inside European democracies, together with immersive docuseries Face to Face, which explores how cohabitation between people and animals is feasible.
In the meantime, Bolts from the Blue: The Secrets and techniques of Lightning takes viewers on a scientific quest and is certainly one of six initiatives taking part within the Sunny Facet official pitching periods.
All reveals are commissioned by French broadcasters and are largely produced by Newen-owned indie Capa, however Newen is in search of co-pro companions and pre-sales at Sunny Facet. Having joined a yr in the past, Persyn will probably be utilizing the confab to take a seat down with commissioning editors from all over the world.
She acknowledged that international budgetary pressures imply an increasing number of reveals require funding from quite a lot of sources.
“The producers we’re working with are positively open to the worldwide market and these initiatives are crafted to journey,” she mentioned. “We wish to take a tailor-made strategy that finds the precise content material for the precise associate. Because of this we wish to construct a slate that includes the complete spectrum of factual genres together with historical past, science, artwork, nature, true crime and investigation.”
French documentaries “have their very own signature,” she added, rejecting the notion that it will likely be more durable to draw funding because of the reveals not being within the English language.
Having mentioned that, Persyn is working intently with Phil Sequeira, the TF1-owned outfit’s newly-appointed UK and North America gross sales exec, as they search to faucet additional into the UK and U.S. markets specifically.
Persyn mentioned Newen has a “robust ambition to develop English-language productions and is working onerous to promote and push our slate in these territories.”
She described her employer as a “rising pan-European pressure in content material distribution.”
Sunny Facet of the Doc is going down this week in La Rochelle.
