TVF International Inks Raft of Deals in Japan

TVF International has secured a slew of deals with Japanese broadcasters and platforms, including NHK, Asia Docs and Tokyovision, among others.

NHK licensed a number of titles, including the 50-minute documentary Arming the Arctic, produced by Wildcat Films and TVF International. The film explores rising geopolitical tensions in the Arctic.

NHK also licensed a special from the long-running series The Snake Master, produced by TV Burabha. The special and series go face-to-face with the rare and venomous snakes of Thailand.

The VOD platform Asia Docs picked up a package of world affairs documentaries from TVF International, including The Daughter Tree, Lost & Found, From North Korea with Love and Click to Ransom.

The Daughter Tree, produced by Trinetra Productions, follows a midwife and activist working in the Punjab region of India, where thousands of pregnancies are aborted every year because of gender. Lost & Found, from Falls Family Films, follows the mission to reunite Japanese artifacts with their owners when they wash up on the coast of Canada a year after Japan was engulfed by a tsunami.

From North Korea with Love, which grants exclusive access to a generation of influencers who have defected from North Korea, and Click to Ransom, which goes inside a Japanese hospital in the middle of a ransomware attack, were also acquired for Asia Docs. They are both produced by Mediacorp.

For Nippon TV’s World Great TV, TVF International licensed two films to Tokyovision: China’s Abandoned Daughters and The Surgery Ship. From Mediacorp, China’s Abandoned Daughters provides access to women adopted during China’s strict one-child policy for forced marriages. The Surgery Ship, from Media Stockade, follows volunteer doctors on board a floating hospital providing care in remote and developing regions.

BS4 licensed two seasons of the wildlife docuseries Shamwari Untamed, which is produced by Tracks Multimedia and centers on rangers working in South Africa’s Shamwari Game Reserve.

In addition to these sales, TVF International has signed a deal to co-produce Japan’s Wild Side with Tokyovision. The title will reveal the wonders of Japan’s animal kingdom across four seasons.

“It has been an exciting couple of months for our work in Japan, collaborating with valued long-term partners, and brand new clients,” said Sam Joyce, senior acquisitions manager at TVF. “We are delighted to be extending our long-term collaboration with Tokyovision to bring the natural world of Japan to a global audience. This pure-wildlife co-pro is perhaps our most ambitious yet, and is already drawing major interest from buyers around the world. And on the sales side, opportunities in the territory are a testament to our slate of premium one-offs and dynamic, access-driven series, which hit the mark for major buyers in Japan.”