Susan Zirinsky Slated for MIPDoc Co-Pro Summit

Journalist and program producer Susan Zirinsky, president of See It Now Studios, is set to deliver a keynote during the MIPDoc Co-Production Summit, taking place April 17 in Cannes.

Zirinsky will give a special headline keynote that draws both on her current role and extensive experience as the multi-award-winning former president of CBS News when covering events that have included Watergate, wars in the Middle East, the Tiananmen Square massacre and 9/11 attacks.

“We are in transformative times with a tsunami of content coming at us and how you break through that is key. It is all about the story, the characters, and revelations,” said Zirinsky. “A good story has to take you on a journey and when that journey has ended, you want to have impact. You want viewers moved and unable to forget what they’ve seen.”

“Co-production is a critical element of the new extended MIPDoc Co-Production Summit,” said RX France’s entertainment division director and director of MIPTV, Lucy Smith. “This summit not only serves as a catalyst for the next wave of productions; it will shine a light on how stories from inside the Ukraine are being accessed and told, whilst providing unmissable firsthand insights from one of the most esteemed journalists of a generation in Susan Zirinsky.”

The MIPDoc Co-Production Summit gathers invited decision-makers within factual and documentary to draw inspiration from talks, case studies, analyze current co-production models and forge partnerships. This year’s featured in depth case study will be Citizens at War: A Year in Ukraine, where Kyiv’s Film UA production company, in collaboration with producers from Australia and the U.K., have over the last year recorded the fate of the Ukrainian nation through the eyes of the nation’s citizens, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife, Olena. The summit will be chaired by Amanda Groom, founder and managing director of The Bridge.