Blue Ant International has signed a distribution and coproduction financing deal with producers in Ukraine, Australia and the U.K. for documentary copro Citizens at War: A Year in Ukraine.

The 6 x 60-minute docuseries (pictured) is commissioned by German-headquartered broadcaster ZDF and produced by Ukraine’s Film.UA, Australia’s Tilt Media and London’s GTV Docs.

Blue Ant International will provide financial support to the series, and will handle distribution outside of Germany, a spokesperson tells Playback Daily. Terms of production financing were not disclosed.

The deal was brokered by Lilla Hurst, global head of acquisitions and partnerships, Blue Ant International. Presales are already in negotiation with additional European networks, according to a news release.

Tilt Media CEO Chris Hilton, GTV Docs’ Tilman Remme, and Film.UA’s general producer Victor Mirsky and head of development and coproductions Kateryna Vyshnevska serve as executive producers.

Citizens at War: A Year in Ukraine features personal interviews with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife, Olena, as well as with men and women affected by the war. The series is slated for release in February, to commemorate the first anniversary of the invasion.

Hurst said in a statement that the docuseries “exemplifies our solutions-based approach as a distributor, combined with our commitment to premium, access-driven storytelling.”

Vyshnevska added that “how the people of a free and democratic society in modern-day Europe rallied, in order to defend their country and national identity against a foreign aggressor, is the most important story of our time. All the partners agree the documentary needed to be told in a way that showed the lives of people behind the headlines.”

Blue Ant International, a division of Toronto-headquartered Blue Ant Media, most recently announced a presale deal with BBC America for Love Nature’s documentary Chasing the Rains. It also appointed Sarah Hussain as director of sales and acquisitions in November.

Image courtesy of Blue Ant International