Cleopatra Doc Leads Newen Connect Slate At Sunny Side
EXCLUSIVE: Newen Connect is jumping on the Cleopatra bandwagon by leading its Sunny Side of the Doc slate with a documentary about the last queen of Egypt.
Cleopatra: Cracking the Enigma helms an eight-strong slate being shopped this week at the La Rochelle confab, as Newen attempts to exert dominance in the international doc market.
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The four-part show for French network RMC Découverte, which is produced by Label News, is based on unprecedented excavations and shows never-before-seen footage of attempts to lift the veil on the mysterious life of the iconic Egyptian ruler.
Cracking the Enigma comes fresh off the back of Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra docudrama, which generated headlines due to controversies surrounding the ethnicity of the lead, Adele James.
Speaking to Deadline, Newen Head of Factual Distribution Chloé Persyn said the distributor is not trying to ride the wave of the Netflix show’s controversy but instead take advantage of “strong demand” for ancient history, which has seen other big budget series on the likes of Queen Nzinga and Alexander the Great commissioned in recent times.
“When you look at Egyptology there are so many stories to be told,” she added. “The idea is not to compete with Netflix but we have great access and tangible proof that links a temple that sunk off Alexandria to Cleopatra. This is unique.”
Also featuring on the Newen slate is The Silent Battle, an investigation into the so-called “hybrid” war that is now raging under the radar in Europe and the chaos that Russia is trying to sow within European democracies, along with immersive docuseries Face to Face, which explores how cohabitation between humans and animals is possible.
Meanwhile, Bolts from the Blue: The Secrets of Lightning takes viewers on a scientific quest and is one of six projects participating in the Sunny Side official pitching sessions.
All shows are commissioned by French broadcasters and are mostly produced by Newen-owned indie Capa, but Newen is seeking co-pro partners and pre-sales at Sunny Side. Having joined a year ago, Persyn will be using the confab to sit down with commissioning editors from around the world.
She acknowledged that global budgetary pressures mean more and more shows require funding from a variety of sources.
“The producers we are working with are definitely open to the international market and these projects are crafted to travel,” she said. “We want to take a tailored approach that finds the right content for the right partner. This is why we want to build a slate featuring the full spectrum of factual genres including history, science, art, nature, true crime and investigation.”
French documentaries “have their own signature,” she added, rejecting the notion that it will be harder to attract funding due to the shows not being in the English language.
Having said that, Persyn is working closely with Phil Sequeira, the TF1-owned outfit’s newly-appointed UK and North America sales exec, as they seek to tap further into the UK and U.S. markets in particular.
Persyn said Newen has a “strong ambition to develop English-language productions and is working hard to sell and push our slate in these territories.”
She described her employer as a “growing pan-European force in content distribution.”
Sunny Side of the Doc is taking place this week in La Rochelle.
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