BBC Studios Sells ‘A Perfect Planet’ Around the World – Global Bulletin

In today’s Global Bulletin, BBC Studios sells “A Perfect Planet” around the world, Channel 4 announces a World Mental Health Day musical special, “A Space in Time” finds U.K. distribution, ARRI relocates to new Munich headquarters and Evolution Malaga releases full program details for its 2020 festival.

SALES

BBC Studios has pre-sold its new natural history series “A Perfect Planet” in several major territories. The series will also feature on BBC Studios Content, a virtual platform where buyers participating in this year’s virtual Mipcom can access the BBC’s premium content offerings.

The globe-spanning series examines natural phenomena such as weather patterns, ocean currents, volcanoes and more, and how they shape and impact life on the planet.

Produced by Silverback Films for BBC One and Discovery, several international partners co-produced the series, including Tencent Penguin Pictures, ZDF German Television, China Media Group CCTV9, France Télévisions and The Open University.

Pre-sold territories include Australia (Nine), Croatia (HRT), Czech Republic (Czech TV), Denmark (DR), Lithuania (LRT), New Zealand (TVNZ), Norway (NRK), Russia (Friday! and United Media Group), Spain (Movistar Plus), Slovenia (RTVS) and Sweden (SVT). BBC Earth channels across Africa, Asia, Canada, CEE, MEDME, Nordics and Poland will also broadcast the series.

WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY

Channel 4 will mark this year’s World Mental Health Day with “The Whole Truth,” a musical special starring three of the U.K.’s most celebrate black artists: Che Lingo, Arlo Parks and Kojey Radical. Each will not only perform one of their songs, but also open up about their mental health stories as people of color, offering a frequently underrepresented point of view on the subject.

#IAMWHOLE founder and musician Jordan Stephens will host the program produced by Spirit Studios. “The Whole Truth” will broadcast on Channel 4 on Friday evening at 11:05pm and be made available on 4Music and Channel 4’s online platforms this month.

DISTRIBUTION

Bohemia Media will release Nick Taussig and Riccardo Servini’s ScreenCraft-winning feature documentary “A Space in Time” across the U.K. in late February 2021.

Billed as a “candid, lyrical, intimate portrait of one family’s struggle to transcend a merciless childhood disease,” the film is an artistic response to the diagnosis of Taussig’s two sons, Theo and Oskar, with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal muscle wasting disease. Unsatisfied with how people with disabilities are frequently portrayed in the media, Taussig asks, “Why are the able-bodied so often unable to see beyond the disability a person suffers from, and witness instead an individual who leads a rich and varied life, their disability just one aspect of them?”

“A Space in Time” is not merely a story of disability or fatal diagnosis, but a unique celebration of disabled life.

Salon Pictures produces in association with Bohemian Media and Buffalo8 Productions. Reservoir Docs is selling the film internationally.

RELOCATION

Centenarian German-based global audiovisual company ARRI has relocated its headquarters and entire Camera Systems division to Munich’s Parkstadt Schwabing.

According to ARRI, the new, ultra-modern production and office building will provide optimal working conditions for employees, and the relocation within the city stands out as a commitment to maintaining Munich as a hub of audiovisual production and innovation.

Arrial, the new production and office building, holds 600 workspaces and is based in the direct vicinity of other Munich-based global industry players.

On October 6, Judith Gerlach, Bavarian State Minister for Digital Affairs, celebrated the opening in person, joined by ARRI executives Dr. Michael Neuhaeuser and Markus Zeiler, ARRI Cine Technik managing directors Stephan Schenk and Walter Trauninger, members of the supervisory board and Dr. Carolin Stahl and Christoph Stahl, who represented the owning family.

FESTIVALS

Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival has released full program details for its upcoming 9th edition, where Marjane Satrapi’s “Radioactive” will kick off festivities. Running Oct 23-29, Gregory Kirchhoff’s “Baumbacher Syndrome” will wrap things up as the event’s closing film.

In addition to opening the festival, featuring as this year’s Centrepiece Gala Tribute, Satrapi will be honored with EMIFF’s Evolution Vision Award at the opening ceremonies and the festival will host a special screening of her 2007 Oscar-nominated animated feature “Persepolis.”

This year’s event will feature more than 100 titles across several sections including its unique Made in Baleares sidebar, where local fiction and documentary films from the Balearic Islands are spotlighted.

Other highlights include the European premiere of Moroccan director Mohamed el Badaoui’s “Lalla Aïcha,” the awarding of 2020’s Evolution Honorary Award to longtime Almodóvar collaborator Ángela Molina (“Live Flesh,” “Broken Embraces”) and a special screening of Fernando Trueba’s highly-anticipated “Forgotten We’ll Be,” the closing film at last month’s San Sebastian Film Festival.