MSNBC, Telemundo Snag U.S. Rights to Doc on Chilean Miners

By Alex Weprin 

The NBCUniversal channels MSNBC and Telemundo have secured the U.S. rights to a documentary that explores the plight of the 33 Chilean miners that were trapped underground after a rockslide… and emerged alive and as national heroes.

The doc, “17 Days Buried Alive,” will focus on he first 17 days of their struggle, the darkest moments of their experience. Ed Schultz will provide the voiceover commentary for MSNBC, while Omar Germenos will do so for Telemundo. It will be the first doc Schultz has worked on since joining MSNBC.

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“17 Days Buried Alive” is produced by Ronachan Films for MSNBC and Telemundo, with the original cut running on the BBC back in August.

The director, Angus Macqueen, explained how he got the exclusive to the BBC:

But quietly, and somewhat below the radar of big names, we established contact and trust with a number of the men and their families and worked out that it was possible to tell the story.

We took them one-by-one to a villa in the Chilean capital Santiago for “interrogation”. Or more like therapy.

It was an intense and emotional experience for them – and us – as we took them back through the experience of those days – the fears and hopes.

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