Canada at the market – factual

CROSSING BRIDGES

Premise: Maestro Pinchos Zukerman, a native-born Israeli, prepares for his dream musical tour of the Middle East with Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra.

Genre: Cultural

Demographic: 13+; Episodes: 1 x 60 minutes

Budget: Cdn$350,000 (us$228,000)

Delivery: April 2001

Prodco: Rhombus Media, Toronto; National Arts Centre, Ottawa

Distributor: Rhombus International, Toronto

What’s the skinny?

Musical performances. Timely exploration of tensions in the Middle East filmed as peace talks disintegrated.

THE PEOPLE SERIES

Premise: Series exploring various facets of today’s world, including the rapid change we are experiencing and its inevitable cost.

Genre: Science

Demographic: 12+; Episodes: 6 x 60 minutes

Budget: Cdn$250,000 (us$163,000) per ep

Delivery: Spring 2001

Prodco: East West Media, Halifax and Charlottetown, Canada

Distributor: East West International, Halifax and Charlottetown, Canada

What’s the skinny?

Universal appeal. Series episodes also work well for theme weeks. Designed with voice-over for easy versioning. First episode, ‘Moving People,’ a success on Discovery.

KINK

Premise: Groundbreaking, honest, raw exploration of alternative sexuality that opens the doors on the private lives and kinks of members of a thriving underground community in Vancouver.

Genre: Series

Demographic: 18+; Episodes: 13 x half-hour

Budget: Not revealed

Delivery: April 2001

Prodco: Coprod of Paperny Films, Vancouver and Salter Street Films, Halifax, Canada

Distributor: Salter Street Films International

What’s the skinny?

Shot in video verite. Producer David Paperny. Airing on Showcase Television in Canada. Sexual subject explored. Full frontal nudity. Dramatic character-driven story arc.

TOUCH: THE FORGOTTEN SENSE

Premise: David Suzuki narrates an exploration of the beauty and importance of our often taken-for-granted sense of touch.

Genre: Health

Demographic: 18+ (possibly of interest to even younger audience)

Episodes: 1 x 1 hour

Budget: Cdn$750,000 (us$488,000)

Delivery: April 2001

Prodco: Max Films, Montreal

Distributor: The Multimedia Group of Canada, Montreal

What’s the skinny?

Universal topic. Informative mix of scientific and artistic. Narration and interviews produced in French and English.

IN THE SHADOW OF A SAINT

Premise: After returning to Nigeria to give his famous activist father, Ken Saro-Wiwa, a proper burial, Toronto-based writer Ken Wiwa visits South Africa to discuss with the children of Nelson Mandela and Steven Biko the emotional price they paid having parents believed by many to be saints.

Genre: Social/human interest

Demographic: Adult

Episodes: 1 x 54 minutes

Budget: Not revealed

Delivery: Immediate

Prodco: Coprod of Nomads Films, Toronto, and bbc, u.k.

Distributor: Filmoption International, Montreal

What’s the skinny?

International appeal. From the producers of series Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World and Human Animal. Ken Wiwa has soon-to-be-published book.

WILD OCEANS

Premise: Adventure doc series looking at survival in the unpredictable marine depths of exotic locations.

Genre: Nature

Demographic: Open

Episodes: Pilot – 1 x 60 minutes; series – six x 60 minutes planned

Budget: Cdn$450,000 (us$293,000) per ep

Delivery: Sharks: The Silent Killers (pilot) – available; second episode – summer 2001; complete series – spring 2002.

Prodco: Ricochet, Toronto

Distributor: Octapixx Worldwide, Toronto

What’s the skinny?

Includes animation sequences from Magnetic North in Toronto. French version under way. Pilot sold to Discovery Channel in Canada. Episodes looking at sharks, shipwrecks, reefs, survival on ice and species living in oceans.