Mediawan Adds Submarine’s ‘Sobibor – Escape from History,’ Nuclear Now’ to Premium Documentary Slate (EXCLUSIVE)
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As it continues ramping up its premium docu slate, Mediawan has boarded “Sobibor – Escape from History,” a four-part documentary which is being developed by leading Dutch banner Submarine (“Last Hijack”).
In the documentary series, the infamous death camp will be portrayed through the eyes of the rebels and survivors. It will tell the epic true story of a group of Jewish prisoners who managed to escape from inside the living hell of a Nazi concentration camp and attempt to rebuild their lives. Some seeked retribution, others redemption. Their children struggle to this day in different ways with the trauma of their parents. The series also follows two surviving relatives, a daughter and a niece who return to Poland, to their ancestral villages where their relatives were banished.
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Sobibor was one of the most gruesome Nazi extermination camps in WW2 in Poland. And yet, on October 14, 1943, a group of Jewish prisoners rose up and succeeded in murdering 20 SS guards, after which 400 prisoners managed to escape. Their experience is considered to be one of the most unique stories of human resistance during the Holocaust.
The story of Sobibor is still relevant today: The uprising was recently invoked as part of the Russian propaganda machine supporting the invasion into Ukraine. Submarine’s previous high profile titles include the Emmy Award-winning “Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World,” about the rise of the first ever citizen-journalist collective, as well as the Emmy Award-winning feature “Last Hijack,” and Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams’ “American Jail for CNN and the BBC.”
Mediawan has also recently added Oliver Stone’s documentary “Nuclear Now” to its prestige documentary roster. “Nuclear Now” world premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was recently acquired by Abramorama and Giant Pictures for North American distribution.
Mediawan Rights has partnered with Participant to sell the documentary outside of North America. Participant has also teamed with Think-Film Production to build an impact campaign aimed at bringing together institutions and organizations to combat the climate crisis.
Penned by Stone and professor and Ph.D. Joshua S. Goldstein, the documentary is based on the “book A Bright Future.” Stone explores the nuclear industry in France, Russia and the U.S. to show how nuclear power can help the global community overcoming the challenges of climate change and energy poverty. The docu is produced by New Element Media and Ixtlan (Stone’s company) in association with Participant.
Participant and Think-Film Impact Production previously collaborated on the European impact campaign for “Dark Waters.”
Mediawan has also scored a raft of sales on “Godard Cinema,” Cyril Leuthy’s documentary biopic of the French New Wave icon. Produced by 10.7 Productions in France, the documentary portrays Godard, who directed more than 140 films but remained a mysterious figure his entire life.
“This portrait wants to take us beyond the clichés of a myth that has sometimes become caricatural, to meet a man more sentimental than it seems, a man inhabited, sometimes surpassed, by his art,” said Mediawan.
The film is being sold by Mediawan Rights under its new division dedicated to feature length documentary titles. Since world premiering at Venice Classics last year, “Godard Cinema” has sold to the U.K. (BFI Player), Portugal (Zero em comportamento), Spain (Filmin), Italy (Wanted), Czech Republic (Film Europe), Finland (YLE), Taiwan (Joint Entertainment) and Japan (Mimosa). Mediawan is in talks to close further territories.
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