Charlotte Tachet
French producer and distributor ZED has reinforced two new genres to its vast and robust catalogue, investigation and politics and true-crime series. “These genres are a bit hot topic right now in the international market," stated Charlotte Tachet, Head of Distribution and Acquisitions at the company.
One of the outstanding titles is "Inside Zuckerberg’s Meta-Brain" that ZED just released in the frame of upcoming 20th anniversary of Facebook next year. It's a Nilaya Productions for France Télévisions, ZDF Studios, Radio-Canada, and SVT and portraits Zuckerberg's biography, but also the controversies behind META.
ZED is also launching an investigative documentary project about "The War Over Wheat", related to the current events in Ukraine. "The film is basically explaining, through a deep investigation how this golden source- very important for African countries, for the Middle East and Europe – has become a crucial weapon of war", explained Tachet.
She also mentioned the ongoing project "Tibet vs. China" that explores the role played by China regarding the upcoming succession of the Dalai Lama, which is a big stake for the future, for Tibet’s natural resources and geopolitical relations.
In the History & Civilizations field, ZED is also promoting two major projects: "Viking Women: The Untold Saga", based on the most recent scientific discoveries of a ship-tomb containing a woman’s grave in Iceland. An ambitious project illustrated by spectacular images from Ubisoft’s last opus, "Assassins’ Creed Valhalla" video game, and produced by Little Big Story and Nordic Eye for France Télévisions, SVT and Histoire TV. "Notre-Dame: What Lies Beneath", a 52’ dedicated documentary about the recently exceptional unearthed treasures of the world’s most famous cathedral, such as sarcophaguses along with fragments of the old rood screen, to be directed by Florence Tran and produced by ZED for ARTE France.
NEW RELEASES
On crime series genre, ZED is handling the distribution of the new event series “Highway to Hell: The Story of a $100M Failure”, that retails one of the most extraordinary sagas of international drug trafficking in 4x45’ produced for Canal+. “A crazy and unbelievable story, with a scenario worthy of a Cohen brothers' fiction” affirmed Tachet.
The company also promotes "The Serpent: Conversation with a Criminal" in 2x45’, the story of Charles Sobhraj, the man who is believed to be responsible for anywhere from 12 to 24 killings over a decade-long spree through Southeast Asia, produced for Planète+ Crime, with Radio Canada.
ZED is also featuring portraits of cinema icons, such as "De Niro: Hiding in the Spotlight" and "Fellini by Fellini", both projects from Nilaya Productions for ARTE.
Artists are in ZED’s catalog spotlight, notably with the two upcoming projects "Hopper X Vermeer" produced by CALM and "AI Weiwei, the Artivist" by CAT& CIE, both for France Télévisions.
ACQUISITION AND DISTRIBUTION STRATEGIES
Tachet says that ZED usually come on board at an early stage of content, because then, the company can get involved on the editorial if it’s necessary to make sure that the program fits with the international market. "We make sure to expand the potential of the film on that way", she asserted. "We can also get on board with our catalogue when the film is achieved. On that case, we are mostly looking for series, different genres, it can be crime series, science, history, but long-running series are something we're very much looking for right now," she completed.