Arctic Drift: A Year in the Ice Lands in New Markets

Fremantle has sealed a number of deals for Arctic Drift: A Year in the Ice, a pioneering scientific expedition documentary.

Deals are in place with Amazon Prime Video for Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as with Channel 4 in the U.K., the PBS science series NOVA in the U.S. and France Télévisions.

International sales include pan-regional deals with National Geographic for Latin America, BBC Earth channels in Africa and Asia, OSN for the Middle East and North Africa, and AMC Networks International—Central and Northern Europe’s Spektrum for Czech, Hungary and Slovakia.

In Eastern Europe, LTV (Latvia), LRT (Lithuania), Canal+ (Poland) and RTV Slovenija and Czech TV have acquired rights.

The pubcasters DR (Denmark), YLE (Finland) and NRK (Norway) have picked up rights in Scandinavia.

Arctic Drift: A Year in the Ice will launch in Spain on TVE and AMC Networks International—Southern Europe’s Odisea/Odisseia for Spain and Portugal. In Italy, Rai 4 picked up premiere rights, and Sky Italia has rights for pay TV.

The documentary has also been sold to VRT in Belgium, KBS in Korea, Gain in Turkey and Cosmote TV in Greece.

Arctic Drift: A Year in the Ice was originally produced for German broadcaster ARD.

The MOSAiC expedition that was 10 years in the planning, has taken an intrepid, international team of climate scientists thousands of miles to capture the previously unattainable data we desperately need to transform our understanding of climate change before it is lost forever.

In one of the harshest environments on the planet, we follow the dangers, dramas and challenges that face the team, as they brave the brutal Arctic winter in their search for answers locked within the sea ice, ocean and atmosphere, allowing us to understand for the first time how this dynamic and enigmatic landscape regulates temperatures and climate across the globe.

 Arctic Drift: A Year In The Ice is a collaboration between two Fremantle companies: German production company UFA Show & Factual and London based Wild Blue Media. After 385 filming days at the north pole in worlds harshest condition the film was unveiled in 2020 as Fremantle’s first high-end factual original.

Jens Richter, CEO, international, said, “This is a brilliant, timely documentary with exclusive access to a once-in-a-lifetime experience with a full spectrum of international scientists. The roster of broadcasters who have come on board highlights that there is an appetite for premium documentaries with an urgent message, and this is a film that is uniquely backed up with science, hope and the adventure of spending a year in the Arctic.”