RUSSIA WRAPS UP MIPCOM WEEK WITH CANNESERIES AWARD AND NEW DEALS

Riki Group, Wizart, NTV and others expand their presence worldwide

October 21, 2020, Moscow. This year Russia has been recognized at MIPCOM Online+ with its Made in Russia virtual pavilion, four shows selected for Fresh TV and the Russian actress Polina Maksimova awarded at Canneseries for Best Performance.

This year over 30 Russian companies presented their new series, films, TV formats and animation at MIPCOM Online+, 24 of them working at the joint virtual “Made in Russia” stand, organized by the Russian Export Center.

The WIT selected two series presented by streaming service START and Yellow, Black and White – “Sherlock: The Russian Chronicles” and “A Good Man”, and “IKOTKA” series from GPM ETV (Gazprom Media – Entertainment TV) for Fresh TV fiction and a romantic dating game show “Secret” from TNT presented by GPM ETV for Fresh TV Formats.

Alongside the virtual MIPCOM the Canneseries international TV series festival awarded Russian actress Polina Maksimova for Best Performance in the comedy drama series “257 Reasons to Live” produced by streaming service START and Yellow, Black and White. The series is distributed by Beta Film.

Dori Media Group, handling international broadcasting and digital rights for action-packed crime series “Shepherd” from NTV, sold it to the Hungarian TV channel RTL and Wirtualna Polska, Polish group of companies.

NTV also announced a deal with NHK Enterprises, Inc. (NEP), the business arm of NHK, Japan’s leading public broadcaster, which has acquired rights to the period drama “Noble Detective” to be aired on AXN Mystery in Japan. The channel will broadcast the series in February 2021.

Riki Group concluded multiple deals on the company’s flagship projects.

Kids TV app Hopster picked up SVOD rights to “The Fixies” – the series will be available on the platform in English worldwide. Fixies’s sales agent PlayBig has secured a deal with P1KFILM SDN BHD, and new episodes will appear on channels and services of Astro, all-Asian satellite provider that operates in Malaysia and Brunei.

ToonAVision has been appointed as “Kikoriki” and “PinCode” distributor for covering Free TV, Pay TV and VOD rights in Canada.

Riki has also teamed up with GHI Media to broadcast “PinCode” in Israel – the company will be responsible for sending the first season of the series in Hebrew to TV channels and platforms.

Both “Kikoriki” and “PinCode” will also be available to Arabic speakers worldwide on the online-platform Noorplay.

Vietnam-based multimedia company Yeah1 Group Corporation acquired the non-exclusive AVOD rights for “Kikoriki” and “Pincode”. The IPs will be available in English and German languages on the popular kids’ YouTube channels owned and operated by Yeah1 across the globe, excluding Russia and CIS.

Riki Group has also partnered with VlogBox to grow its audiences across new markets and serve their content via the CTV environment, starting with CTV apps for “The Fixies”, “Kikoriki” and “PinCode”.

TOONZ ENTERTAINMENT picks up the first and second parts of “The Snow Queen” franchise from Wizart studios for distribution in India. Wizart has also signed agreements for the “The Snow Queen: Mirrorlands” with TRD MEDIA, the animated film to be broadcasted in Africa. DNC company will handle the Italian distribution of the animated feature “Sheep and Wolves” (two full-length parts) and two films of the “The Snow Queen” franchise. “The Snow Queen: Mirrorlands” and “The Snow Queen: Fire and Ice” will also be shown in Italy in the near future.

SMF (Soyuzmultfilm) Studio will soon announce a deal with a Chinese company Beijing Joy Culture media for distribution on the territory of China of the following animated series: “The adventures of Peter and Wolf”, “Claymotions”, “Mr Theo, Cat & Dog”.

Russian animation projects traditionally draw attention from international audiences – according to the Reed Midem report, Riki Group`s project “Dinocity” presented by APC Kids made the top 10 of the 30 most screened programmes at MIPJunior Screening Library. “Secret room”, a brand-new title from the Russian licensing agency brand4rent has entered the top 10 most screened projects in development.

All Media presented “10-title documentary cycle by Vladimir Pozner”, comedy series “Star VS Quarantine” and “Isolated with love”, as well as feature films “The Last Warrior”, “Hotel Belgrade”, “Great Poetry”, “Happy End” and others . At the moment All Media is negotiating the mentioned titles with the distribution companies, platforms and TV channels from Italy, Hungary, USA, Brazil, Poland and France.

The headliner by 1-2-3 Production – noir drama series “Dead Mountain: The Dyatlov Pass” directed and produced by Valeriy Fedorovich and Evgeniy Nikishov, was presented by the world sales agent Beta Film. The series has been selected to the official competition of Geneva International Film Festival and will premiere in Geneva on November 8th. Cineflix international distributor showcased the second season of “An Ordinary Woman” drama series with Anna Mikhalkova. International buyers also marked thrilling drama “Six Empty Seats” by Petr Todorovsky, which had recently been awarded The Best Drama Series of Serial Killer Festival in Brno, Czech, and the feature film “Masha” by Anastasia Palchikovsa – the best debut prize winner of 31st Sochi Film Festival (Kinotavr).

ODIN-MEDIA closed the sales deal with Chinese company Sinovision International on the documentary “The Great North Way” and keeps working on expansion of cooperation with large VOD platforms, actively involved in talks on package deals with Huawei and Pluto TV.

Mars Media Entertainment sold distribution rights for the series “Catherine The Great” and “Rasputin” in Latin America.

“The world is changing so fast, and we have to adapt, too. The MIPCOM offers the best digital solution and allows the international community to stay involved, hold negotiations and close deals. As Russian pavilion we expect more results from national players on global markets as it has become more profitable to work with Russian companies, thanks to the new subsidy launched by REC that covers costs on content adaptation to foreign markets and international promo campaigns. We also encourage global players to engage in co-productions and film in Russia, when it becomes possible, as international producers could benefit from the federal cash rebates system in place since last year,” said Evgenia Danilchenko, Head of creative industries export at the Russian Export Center.

Source: Russia Expo