Mipcom: BBC, Arte, SBS Acquire PBS’ ‘Chasing the Moon’

By Robert Mitchell

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – International has sold space-race documentary series “Chasing the Moon” to a host of international broadcasters following a screening at Mipcom in Cannes, the company announced Wednesday. Among 13 broadcasters boarding the title are the BBC for the U.K., Arte for France and Germany, and in Australia.

The six-hour series, produced to commemorate next year’s 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, is expected to air around the world in the summer of 2019.

Directed by the Oscar- and Emmy-nominated Robert Stone, “Chasing the Moon” tells the behind-the-scenes story of NASA’s mission to put a man on the moon. Through interviews with many of the key players in the historic events, including Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins and fellow astronauts Frank Borman and Bill Anders, and access to previously overlooked and lost archival material, the documentary looks to reveal the scientific innovation, political calculation, media spectacle, visionary impulses, and personal drama behind the space race.

“‘Chasing the Moon’ is an unmatched achievement that focuses on the science, history, and most importantly the intimate human aspect of one of the most inspiring and tumultuous periods in modern history, the space race,” said Tom Koch, vice president of PBS International. “Broadcasters around the world will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon [landing] with this series in the summer of 2019.”