"The Boys Who Said No: Draft Resistance and the "Vietnam War"
Broadcasters across Europe, the US and MENA have picked up Oscar nominated director Judith Ehrlich’s latest documentary "The Boys Who Said No: Draft Resistance and the Vietnam War" (1x95' / 1x52) from UK indie factual distributor, Espresso Media.
European buyers include Hearst Networks in Germany for the HISTORY channel, Catalonian public broadcaster 3Cat (formerly CCMA) and Canal+Group for Planètein France. Elsewhere, American Public Television have licensed the documentary for the US, and Asharq News have acquired it across MENA.
Produced by Insight Films, the doc is the first to examine – through a combination of exclusive archival footage and interviews with high-profile anti-war activists – the youth-led movement of civil disobedience against the Vietnam War. As well as exploring the grass-roots campaign that eventually succeeded in forcing an end to conscription, "The Boys Who Said No" follows key anti-war figures from MLK and Mohammed Ali to iconic folk singer, Joan Baez.
As part of the same package, Canal+ Group have bought "Resistance: They Fought Back" (1x96) for Planète in France, another history documentary examining important legacies of non-violent resistance. The award-winning feature doc showcases untold stories of Jewish uprising, civil disobedience and guerilla warfare across Eastern Europe.
“We are proud to see that some very important platforms, both in Europe and the US, have picked up Insight’s unique anti-war doc marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, especially given we are in such troublesome times now”, says David Hooper, Managing Director of Espresso.“In addition, we are pleased that Canal+ Group have continued to support our programming through the acquisition of another award-winning Holocaust doc with an intriguing angle, plus one of our latest true-crime documentary series”.
The third season of the Coleman produced series "History’s Greatest Aircrafts" (6x45) and true-crime series "Where is Baby Gabriel" (3x45), from the same producers as Peacock original "Monster in the Shadows" (3x45), were also picked up by Canal+ Group for Planète+ and its Crime channel, Planète+ crime, in France.