Gemini Award collector Barna-Alper Productions (Da Vinci’s Inquest, Milgaard, At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story) is riding the wave of its recent successes with a hefty drama development slate worth $400,000, two feature films in the works, and a handful of new and renewed doc series in production to the tune of $7.5 million.

In development is Blue Murder, a one-hour, crime drama series for Global. The 13 episodes chronicle the ‘Blue Murder Unit,’ a police force division designed to handle politically charged cases and to solve the most heinous of crimes. Its powers are so far-reaching, the unit comes to be feared even inside the force.

Laszlo Barna is exec producing; Steve Lucas, who created the series, is on board as producer and writer; and cocreator Cal Coons, Jill Golick and Sugith Varughese top off the writing team.

Doctors Without Borders is a 13-part, one-hour drama series in development for cbc. It centres on the Western doctors who abandon the comforts of home to save lives and provide medical aid to ailing, third-world regions. Barna is exec producing and David Young is writing.

Two more 13-part drama series are in development. Free Riders, a half-hour drama for ytv aimed at kids aged 10 to 16, is a pulse-pounding program about six young athletes living and training for world-class competitions in Whistler, b.c. The series represents the next generation of extreme athletes, exposing the challenges each of them face in their personal lives. Barna is exec producing and series creator Cathy Moss is producing.

Flash Frames is a half-hour series for Citytv that takes a satirical look at the bizarre world of music-video making. Barna is exec producing. Creators Jesse Shamata and Daniel Hawkes are writing and producing.

On the mow front, the prodco is in development with Trophies for cbc. Based on a true story, the tv movie chronicles the hair-raising, high-stakes efforts of a veteran police investigator to convict a serial sex offender, described as ‘the most dangerous sexual predator in Canadian history,’ next to Paul Bernardo. Barna is exec producing with Lucas.

Making its foray into feature film, Barna-Alper is in development on The Albanian Virgin, an adaptation of Alice Munro’s short story of the same name. Set in Northern Albania in the 1920s and Victoria, b.c. in the 1960s, the story juxtaposes two women’s journeys of self-discovery. The prodco is currently securing a writer and plans to produce the film next year.

The other feature film Barna-Alper is developing is Orange, to be directed by Jerry Ciccoritti. Written by new Canadian talent Alison Dempsey, the film is set in rural Canada and explores the turbulent life of a young girl trapped by teen pregnancy.

The film, exec produced by Barna and Perry Zimel, will head into production later this year.

Meantime, b-a is in preproduction with the third season of Da Vinci’s Inquest for cbc. The budget for the series is $13 million. Series creator Chris Haddock and Barna are exec producing. Tom Braidwood and Lynn Barr are producing.

Finally, on the drama front, the prodco is in post-production on Scorn, a $3.25-million mow for cbc. Penned by Andrew Rai Berzins and directed by Sturla Gunnarsson, Scorn is the story of a teenage boy who hires two friends to kill his mother and grandmother to collect his inheritance so they can invade the country of Brunei. Barna is exec producing with Christian Bruyere. Maryke McEwan and Bruyere are producing.

On the documentary side, The Sexual Century is a six-part, one-hour doc series coproduced with Carlton uk, to premier on History Television Feb. 14. Written and directed by Ric Bienstock (Ebola: Inside an Outbreak), Alan Mendelsohn (Turning Points of History), David New, Marnie Inskip and series producer Alex Gibney (The Fifties), the series chronicles the profound changes that have characterized human sexuality in the 20th century. Barna and Sally Doganis are exec producing. Additional broadcasters include cbc, Canal d and itv in the u.k.

Also on the doc production slate is the third season of Turning Points of History, a 13-part, one-hour series for History that dramatically recaptures milestone events that have changed the course of history. The series, which last year won six awards at the Columbus International Film Festival and recently won a Silver World Medal at the New York Film and Video Festival, started airing Jan. 17. Barna and Frank Savoie are exec producing and Mendelsohn is producing.

Frontiers of Construction, a 13-part, one-hour doc series commissioned by Discovery Channel, explores the development and engineering feats behind international mega-modern constructions. From the Eurotunnel and the Las Vegas strip to various skyscrapers, the series focuses each week, starting Feb. 7, on a single construction specialty or project. Barna is exec producing with Sam Grana. David Langer is producing.

The final doc in production is Life & Times: Leslie Nielsen, to air Feb. 28. The one-off was written by Richard Tomkies, directed by Ken Jubenvill and exec produced by Barna.

Docs in development include: Turning Points of History iv, Frontiers of Construction ii, Life & Times: Buzz Hargrove, Life & Times: Fred Banting and Offspring for Witness.

*Sienna produces three new features

From the producers that captured the Canadian film festival circuit with New Waterford Girl comes a handful of new and innovative projects.

Sienna Films is currently in development with Dinner at the Edge, a one-hour, performing arts film that tells a fantasy story, says producer Sean Carley.

Also producing is Sienna’s Anita Lee, Julia Sereny and Jennifer Kawaja.

‘It starts off as an ordinary evening in a restaurant, but as the evening progresses, it becomes increasingly surreal, as people start revealing themselves as circus performers, musicians, vocalists….It ultimately turns into a symphony,’ says Carley.

Written and directed by award-winning editor David New, the film is currently in post-production with Theatre d, a new sound and pic editing facility helmed by John Hazen.

A full range of musical interpretations is being handled by TTG Music Lab, the composers for New Waterford Girl. Internationally renowned choreographer Robert Derosiers is also attached.

Although an airdate is still to be determined, the film will premier on Bravo! cbc has the second window.

Additional funding came from the lfp and Telefilm Canada.

Also on the Sienna slate is the feature film Monster, written and to be directed by New York-based indie director Hal Hartley (Flirt).

In early development, Monster is a coprod by Sienna and the Icelandic Film Corporation.

The script, which was invited to the Roderdam Film Festival’s (Jan. 26 to Feb. 6) Cinemart market, is described by Carley as ‘a very contemporary, very foul-mouthed Beauty and the Beast.’ The story takes place in Iceland, where the film will shoot, with post in Toronto.

New Waterford Girl was recently screened at Sundance and competed at the Roderdam Film Festival.

Finally, Sienna is in development with the feature film Priceless, written and directed by Helen Lee and starring Sandra Oh.

The film, to be shot in Canada and Korea, is about a female underworld figure in Korea who is forced to take a trip to Canada where everything falls apart. A broadcaster has yet to be attached.

*Dead Aviators wins again

Dead Aviators, an Accent Entertainment and Temple Street Productions coprod, in association with cbc, Showtime Networks and Hallmark Entertainment, has won the Gold World Medal in the category of teen programs at the New York Festivals last month.

Considered one of the most international award shows in the u.s., the festival salutes excellence in communications media from around the world.

Dead Aviators was written by Semi Chellas (The Life Before This) and directed by David Wellington (Long Day’s Journey Into Night).

Budgeted at roughly $3.5 million, the mow is about a young girl who moves to the East Coast to live with her grandmother. In her new home, she discovers the ghosts of two French aviators whose plane crashed on a wwii mission. Together they rebuild the plane.

The mow also won the Shaw Children’s Programming Initiative ScreenScene Award for best children’s feature and a Certificate of Merit in the feature film category at the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival in October.

Dead Aviators was released in the u.s. under the title Restless Spirits.

Toronto-based Big Star Motion Pictures also came out a winner at the New York festival, taking home the Gold Medal for best educational program for Smart Kids-Safe Streets, exec produced by Frank A. Deluca and Giacomo Moncada, directed by Anne Kennard and written by Luciano Casimiri.

Smart Kids airs on Global in May.