Tuvalu to Present Innovators That Changed the World

LONDON, March 30: At MIPDoc, Tuvalu Entertainment will be presenting the first episode of Innovators That Changed the World, a 10-part series that looks at inventions, large and small, that have shaped and changed the way we live.

The intent of the series is to convey the very human stories behind each invention, as illustrated in the first episode, “La Premiere,” which is about the Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis, who invented cinema as we know it, projecting moving images on a large screen.

“La Premiere” was written and directed by another pair of brothers, Nicholas and Michael Regalbuto—sons of Joe Regalbuto, the American actor best known for his work with Candice Bergen in the sitcom Murphy Brown—and is narrated by James Earl Jones.

“Each episode of Innovators That Changed the World will be a three-act, snack-size theatrical feature film in 22 minutes for a 30-minute time slot,” explains Paul Johnson, the CEO of Tuvalu Entertainment.

“Nick and Mike, who I call creative geniuses, have captured the essence of the Lumière brothers’ struggle—because they did struggle to create the cinématographe at the very beginning—but Nick and Mike did it in three distinct acts in a way that you feel like you are watching a theatrical film, but they have done it in 22 minutes.

“When we read the script we felt this would be perfect to extend and investigate other people like the Lumière brothers who have done something that has touched all of our lives and has changed them for the better,” continues Johnson. “That’s how we came up with the title Innovators That Changed the World, and also started to look at other inventors from history to the present day.”

The series will look at inventions, many of which we take for granted today, but, as series co-director Mike Regalbuto explains, “We are trying to do it in such a way that it doesn’t feel necessarily like a history lesson but an engaging story about these innovations,” and the people behind them.

“We want to make something that is visually exciting enough that each episode will keep viewers’ attention,” says Nick Regalbuto, fellow co-director. “That is something we always talked about since the conception of the show, these are little bite-sized theatrical films in their scope, and that trickles down to almost every element, from the style of the story telling, the production values, the details. You can bring audiences to that place in history in a much more engaging way if you can vividly produce that time. Today’s audience is pretty astute and they want to see something that is high quality—with the writing, the production design and the cinematography. As filmmakers we are audience members too and this is something we’d want to see.”

There will be a presentation of Innovators That Changed the World on Saturday, April 2, during MIPDoc, at 4:15 p.m. in the Grand Salon at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes.

“The Lumière brothers are the reason there is a MIPDoc, and MIPTV,” says Johnson. “Without them we would not be where we are today. It’s perfect that ‘La Premiere’ is the first episode we are launching at MIPDOC because it exemplifies who we really need to thank for the industry we are in.”

Tuvalu Entertainment and Loaded Media produced “La Premiere.” Ten percent of all Tuvalu Entertainment’s net profits are placed into a charitable trust, which funds the Tuvalu 2020 project. Tuvalu, the island nation in the Pacific is the smallest country in the world with a population of only 9,900. It hopes to become the first country to be 100 percent sustainable in energy, water and food by 2020.