TV Real Screenings Festival: ZDF Studios

ZDF Studios has long been known for its strengths in science, wildlife and history, and those proficiencies are on display in its TV Real Screenings Festival lineup, which includes the three-part Surviving Hothouse Earth.

Spotlighting climate change, the series delivers “cinematic shots of nature, landscapes and urban life,” says Ralf Rückauer, VP Unscripted, alongside expert commentary. “Animated maps, visualizations of climate data and satellite image-based animations help to understand complex scientific concepts and imagine life in a hothouse period,” Rückauer says.

Lush footage is also available in the ten-part Africa from Above, Rückauer notes, pointing to its “spectacular aerial adventure” that spotlights how “humans and animals live in some of the most extreme environments on Earth.”

The six-part War Gamers, meanwhile, delivers a new perspective on World War II as it focuses on members of the U.K.’s Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRENS). “When a dedicated team is needed to unpick the German U-boat strategy and work out how to defeat the opposing force, Royal Navy officer Captain Roberts, undaunted, recruits a team of women—all members of the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRENS),” Rückauer explains. “None of them has ever been to sea. Together these WRENS unpick the German strategy, and they even devise tactics to defeat them.”