Princess Diana and Prince Charles Wedding Documentary to Premiere on BritBox – Global Bulletin

Naman Ramachandran
·6 min read

ROYALS

“The Wedding of the Century,” a documentary about the wedding of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles, will bow on BBC and ITV’s streamer BritBox in July in time for the event’s 40th anniversary.

On July 29, 1981, a record 750 million people in 74 countries tuned in to see the couple exchange vows at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Video technology then couldn’t quite capture the details in all their glory, and all except for one media outlet captured the event on poor quality standard definition video tape.

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British Movietone shot the ceremony on 35mm film, which has now been upgraded to 4K resolution. The restored footage is the centerpiece of the documentary from Touchdown Films, which also includes unheard anecdotes from the day and interviews with key insiders involved in planning the event.

APPOINTMENTS

BBC Studios – Americas has promoted Chris Cole to executive VP, strategic partnerships, and appointed Kelly Miller to senior VP, scripted strategy, both reporting into Dina Vangelisti, executive VP, content sales, BBC Studios – Americas.

Cole, based in New York, will oversee and provide strategic planning for longstanding, key partnerships with AMC Networks/BBC AMERICA, Discovery, PBS, BritBox, and Blue Ant Media, while Miller will be responsible for managing co-production activity in the U.S. across drama, comedy, and children’s with television and digital clients.

Cole was previously senior VP for content distribution, responsible for U.S. unscripted co-productions and sales, and for all content sales in the Canadian market. Miller previously held the role of SVP, international strategy at Endeavor Content.

AWARDS

TV market Mipcom has opened entries for its annual Diversify TV Excellence Awards 2021. Celebrating their 5th anniversary this year, the awards are dedicated to championing and promoting diversity and inclusion in all its forms across the international television industry.

For the second year running, the awards will also feature a special prize, the Variety Creative Change Award, which will be presented to an individual who has used their platform in the arts to champion diverse voices and stories.

Entries will be screened by a pre-selection jury of content experts and shortlisted projects will be chosen by a panel of charitable organizations that campaign for equality and inclusion.

The awards ceremony will take place live during Mipcom (Oct. 11-14) on Oct. 13 in the Grand Auditorium at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes and will also be live streamed to remote audiences.

SALES

Keshet International has sold Koda Communications’ eight-part thriller crime drama “Line in the Sand,” created by Rotem Shamir and Yuval Yefet, to streamer Brut X for France, RTL in Germany for its RTL Crime channel, BETV for French-speaking Belgium and to Network 10 in Australia for its streaming service Paramount Plus.

All four broadcasters have also optioned the second series recently reordered by Keshet 12 and active discussions are on-going with numerous other broadcast partners including Europe and Latin America.

The first season of the series has been chosen by the Monte-Carlo TV Festival for its official selection and a Golden Nymph Award, with a delegation from the show expected to attend the 60th anniversary event in Monaco from June 18-22.

Meanwhile, theatrical distributor and streamer MUBI has acquired all rights for Mia Hansen-Løve’s “Bergman Island” for the U.K. and Ireland, and plans to release the film theatrically.

The film will receive its world premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, and stars Vicky Krieps (“Phantom Thread”) and Tim Roth (“Chronic”) along with Mia Wasikowska (“Stoker”) and Anders Danielsen Lie (“Personal Shopper”).

The film is produced by Charles Gillibert’s CG Cinema (“Eden”) and Rodrigo Texeira at RT Features. Co-producers are Erik Hemmendorff, Genevieve Lemal, Dietmar Güntsche and Julio Chavezmontes. Kinology is handling international sales.

Elsewhere, South African producer Fell and Company has appointed Rocket Rights to represent travel documentary “Everything in Between” internationally.

The documentary follows two men — South African Ron Rutland and Briton James Owens — who set out from Twickenham rugby stadium in London to cycle to Tokyo to deliver the referee’s whistle for the opening game of the 2019 Rugby World Cup. 230 days and 20,000 km later they did just that, but the journey across 27 countries was full of trials and tribulations.

The film was originally broadcast on South Africa’s Showmax and Supersport Channel.

EXPANSION

Sony’s anime service Funimation is continuing its Latin America expansion, rolling out in Colombia, Chile and Peru from June 16 as a web-only preview and next month across apps, Smart TV platforms and gaming consoles, including Android, iOS, SamsungTV, AndroidTV, Roku, Switch, PlayStation and Xbox.

Subscription will cost 22,900 Pesos ($6.19) per month or 229,000 annually in Colombia; 3,900 Pesos ($5.36) monthly or 39,000 Pesos annually in Chile; and 19.90 Soles ($5.12) per month or 199 Soles annually in Peru.

The service has more than 2,000 hours of content from over 200 series and movies, including “My Hero Academia,” “Attack on Titan,” “Overlord,” “Sword Art Online,” “Fruits Basket” and “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.”

Funimation launched in Brazil and Mexico last year. It is an independently-operated joint venture between U.S.-based Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Japan’s Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., both subsidiaries of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation.

DATES

Bollywood sports drama “Toofaan” will bow on Amazon Prime Video on July 16, after being postponed from its original May premiere date due to the pandemic sweeping across India.

Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and produced by Excel Entertainment and ROMP Pictures, the film stars Farhan Akhtar in the lead role along with Mrunal Thakur, Paresh Rawal, Supriya Pathak Kapur, Hussain Dalal, Dr. Mohan Agashe, Darshan Kumaar and Vijay Raaz.

Akhtar and Mehra had previously collaborated on another sports drama “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” (2013).

Cinemas remain closed in India as the country’s COVID-19 cases recede slowly. Period espionage thriller “Bellbottom,” starring Akshay Kumar, which was one of the first Bollywood films to shoot entirely in the U.K. during the pandemic, will release theatrically July 27.

The film is produced by Pooja Entertainment in association with Emmay Entertainment and directed by Ranjit M. Tewari.

SERIES

Millennial-focused global channel and content producer Insight TV has partnered with esports organization G2 Esports to co-produce a second series of online esports talent search series “G2 Making the Squad.”

In the eight-part series, 10 Fortnite streamers compete for a spot on the G2 Esports Creator roster. Contestants will be tested on their Fortnite gaming skills and also on how well they can transfer what they’ve learned in Fortnite into fun, dynamic In-Real-Life challenges inspired by the game, which will take place in Italy.

Fortnite is an online video game developed by Epic Games, which requires players to overcome several challenges.

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