ARTE On Board Trophy Hunters Doc

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PARIS/LONDON: ARTE has commissioned Alleycats to produce the documentary Trophy Hunters, about big-game hunters.

Trophy Hunters will follow big-game hunters, with exclusive access to the Dallas Safari Club. The documentary will reveal who these big-game hunters are and whether there is truth to their claims that hunting endangered animals can help the species survive through funding conservation. ARTE is producing the title along with Alleycats. Sideways Film has pre-sold rights to VGTV in Norway, Polsat in Poland, Yes Docu in Israel and Télé-Québec for French-speaking Canada, and is seeking further broadcast partners at IDFA.

Des Henderson (How to Defuse a Bomb: The Project Children Story) is directing the project, while Ed Stobart (Pink Saris) will serve as producer. Kazz Basma (The End of Truth) of Sideways Film is set to executive produce.

“Trophy hunting is a truly global issue and one that invokes ultra-passionate responses from both its supporters and critics,” said Des Henderson, the director of Alleycats. “As a filmmaker I want to know who these hunters are, why they do it, and crucially, try to figure out if killing animals helps or hinders conservation.”

“We’re so proud to be production partners on a project of this caliber and complexity, we have the perfect production team and the characters to bring this story to life,” commented 
Kazz Basma, executive producer at Sideways Film. “Let’s find out whether their argument holds water.”

Sabine Bubeck-Paaz of ARTE added, “Does killing elephants help to save the species? The ‘trophy hunters’ of the exclusive Dallas Safari Club believe so and will give us a surprising insight into their world and perspective on wildlife preservation. We are happy to be co-producing this film with Alleycats.”

“VGTV is aiming to be the prime destination for Norwegian audiences to watch documentaries,” remarked Andreas Fay of VGTV Norway. “VGTV and Sideways have worked together with fruitful results on several films over the last few years, and with Trophy Hunters we are confident that we have another success on our hands. VGTV is thrilled to be the first broadcaster in Norway to give our audiences this exhilarating and thought-provoking experience.”

“Télé-Québec is committed to broadcasting hard-hitting documentaries that enable viewers to be better-informed citizens of the world,” stated Geneviève Royer of Télé-Québec Canada. “We are happy to work with Sideways Film on this program that promises to shed some light onto the world of trophy hunters.”

“Polsat Docu is a brand-new documentary channel in Poland,” said Radek Slawinski of Polsat Poland. “I know previous productions from Sideways—high-quality documentaries with gripping narrative, touching vital topics. We’re looking forward to participating in this project.”

“Yes Docu, the leading documentary channel in Israel, is proud to support Trophy Hunters and to keep on bringing the best of human-interest stories to our audience,” 
commented Amichay Matyas of Yes Docu Israel.