After the success of “Notre-Dame, The secrets of the Builders” on France Televisions, with over 9 million viewers, PBS’s one hour version “Building Notre-Dame” was the highest rated episode of “Secrets of the Dead” (WNET) in the past year with over 1.1 million viewers.
This ambitious production took five years to be made and costed over 3.8 million euros. Directed by Emmanuel Blanchard and produced by Program33, the film recounts 800 years of the cathedral’s story through brilliant animation, live action and testimonies. Many times destroyed, flooded, burnt, abandoned, transformed, Notre Dame has always risen from its ashes thanks to the hard work, genius and tenacity of its builders.
“One of the things we learned on the fire of 2019 was how much Notre Dame means to people all over the world. A quality that should make the April anniversary come back every year for buyers,” said Céline Payot Lehmann, Head of ARTE Distribution. “The high production value of the film and the power of attraction of Notre Dame has allowed us to secure over 20 pre-sales worldwide, including ZDF, Radio Canada, CCTV in China, EBS in Korea, AMC in Spain, Canal + in Poland, and multiple other European territories,” she added.