Star Media Group to Offer Docudramas & New Dance Format

October 1, 2011 World Screen
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MOSCOW: Star Media Group Russia is to present a range of new international docudramas, movies and its own format in Cannes, coming alongside the sale of ten new English-language episodes of The Great Patriotic War to A+E Networks UK. 

The docudramas to be highlighted at MIPCOM include World War 2 Reloaded, which chronicles major battles that became pivotal in the course of World War 2. More than ten countries may be involved in the production of its planned 26 episodes. The docudrama series Napoleonic Wars will be sequel to Borodino produced in 2011 in co-production with Cannel One Russia. Open Space is a 3D animated series that features the history of space exploration.

Go Dance!, an entertainment format based on the Ukrainian series will also be presented by Star Media. In Go Dance! residents of the largest Ukrainian cities compete to win the title of Ukraine’s Dance Capital for their home cities.

Star Media will also present more than 15 new TV series ranging from adventure to epic docudramas, including Anna German: Mystery of the White Angel, the story of an international singer; Once Upon a Time in Odessa, an adventure melodrama covering 1920s Russia; Trouble in Store, a historical drama; and Island of the Unwanted, an adventure drama about 13 people stuck on a desert island. Other formats available to buyers include Forgive Me, a reality series; The Key Moment, based on the element of surprise; Laboratory of Family Life, a reality and talk show; as well as The Point of Return, a psychological makeover show. Films offered include The Dandelion, a 90-minute melodrama; Anti-Sniper, a four-part 100-minute action film; and The Sum of All Meanness and Two Tickets to Venice, both 90-minute melodramas.

Following a deal with Star Media Group Russia, A+E Networks UK is to air ten new English episodes of the docudrama The Great Patriotic War.
The new episodes will premiere in the U.K. on Military HISTORY in spring 2012, while series one, Soviet Storm: WW2 in the East will premiere on HISTORY across Scandinavia, Benelux, Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East in November. The series was originally produced by Star Media’s Kiev-based animation studio, Babich Design.
Star Media’s CEO, Vlad Ryashin, said: “We are very excited about these deals and feel honored to be working with such a prestigious broadcaster as HISTORY. Our new 18-episode docudrama Soviet Storm: WW2 in the East will be presented at MIPCOM. The original docudrama was made in collaboration with Channel One Russia, and it was a huge success with Russian TV viewers. The series uses the latest state-of-the-art technology combining stunning 3D-animation with dramatic live-action reconstruction and historic library footage. Today’s viewer is not so interested in straightforward documentary newsreel, however, which is why we use it with limitations in our project—the main focus being on ‘modern imagery’ that made Soviet Storm: WW2 in the East so special and unique. We believe that it will be very popular internationally. Without any political themes, this docudrama deals, purely and simply, with facts about one of the most bloody wars in history.”
Rachel Job, A+E Networks UK’s head of acquisitions and commissioning for HISTORY and Military HISTORY, said: “Although the viewer appetite for World War Two content never seems to wane, the challenge is always to make it feel fresh and relevant to an increasingly demanding audience. Star Media offered a distinctly different Russian viewpoint, which provided a genuinely unique slant on a much-covered subject. Whilst we couldn’t avoid an English language reversion, we carefully protected the Russian sentiment and specifically made it the selling point when promoting it our audience. This extraordinary angle, coupled with impressive production values, resulted in excellent ratings on Military HISTORY in the U.K. and we look forward to repeating this success for HISTORY internationally.”
Riashyn said of the catalogue, “These series are the first Russian products potential of becoming large-scale international documentary projects. Star Media is armed with all necessary capacities, developments and unique well-tested technology that will help minimize the cost of production. Our main rule is no political background and no assessment of the past events. We just present them as they were. We will use only figures and facts, providing only bare data on the operations, battles, tactics, manpower and wand weapons. Their estimation is left for the viewers.”
 
Riashyn continued: “We produced two seasons of Go Dance! in collaboration with Kvartal 95, our Ukrainian partner. This is an amazing project emanating an avalanche of light and powerful energy. Dance has a wonderful unifying and inspirational effect on the whole country. We hope that local versions of Go Dance! will appear in Russia and Kazakhstan in the nearest future. I’m also sure that this format will have international success and we might even see it on air in other countries the next year already.”

 

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