CNN Launches Documentary Acquisition Unit

By Merrill Knox 

CNN is launching CNN Films Presents, a new unit for acquiring documentary films. All the new brand’s documentaries will be acquired films that have previously premiered on other television networks.

CNN Films Presents will kick off the year with “March of the Penguins,” which won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2006, on January 2 and “The Impostor” on January 23.  Like CNN Films, CNN Films Presents will be curated by SVP of development and acquisitions Vinnie Malhotra and SVP of talent and content development Amy Entelis.

CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker recently said the network needs “more shows and less newscasts.” CNN’s films and original series some of the highest-rated programming on the channel this year.

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More from CNN after the jump.

CNN Announces New Strand for Acquired Documentary Films

March of the Penguins, The Imposter to broadcast on CNN/U.S. in 2014

CNN is creating another destination for extraordinary acquired documentary films in a new brand, “CNN Films Presents,” it was announced today.

CNN Films Presents will be a sister brand to “CNN Films,” which was launched in October 2012, and is the network’s brand for acquired or commissioned documentary features, following their exhibitions in theaters. All CNN Films Presents broadcasts will be acquired films. And, the new brand will also be distinguished from CNN Films in that its documentaries will have broadcast windows that are not first-on-television premieres.

The first CNN Films Presents broadcast will be the French nature documentary, MARCH OF THE PENGUINS, produced by Ilann Girard, directed by Luc Jacquet, and stirringly narrated by Academy award-winning actor, Morgan Freeman. Released in 2005, MARCH OF THE PENGUINS received the 2006 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the 2005 Best Documentary award from the Broadcast Film Critics Association. The film will air on CNN/U.S., beginning on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014.

THE IMPOSTER is a British-American co-production, and is the story of a Frenchman who impersonated a Texas child who went missing in 1994. Produced by Dimitri Doganis and directed by Bart Layton, THE IMPOSTER will air on Thursday, Jan. 23, as the second CNN Films Presents broadcast. THE IMPOSTER was honored as the 2012 Best Documentary by the British Independent Film Awards.

“CNN Films Presents is a curated series of exceptional documentary feature films from the past for a new audience to discover and for fans to enjoy again,” said Vinnie Malhotra, senior vice president of development and acquisitions for CNN Worldwide, “We will revisit classics like MARCH OF THE PENGUINS, and more recent critically-acclaimed titles like THE IMPOSTER.”

CNN Films Presents films, like CNN Films, will be curated by Malhotra and Amy Entelis, senior vice president of talent and content development.

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