‘My Octopus Teacher’ Producer Off The Fence Acquires Documentary ‘Resident Orca’
EXCLUSIVE: ZDF Studios’ Off the Fence, the company behind Netflix’s BAFTA and Oscar-winning doc My Octopus Teacher, has taken worldwide rights outside of Canada to Resident Orca, a documentary from first-time feature directors Sarah Sharkey Pearce and Simon Schneider.
Ahead of Resident Orca‘s release, the plans for which have not yet been disclosed, the team from OTF will be hitting French documentary marketplace Sunny Side of the Doc with the film later this month.
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Nominated for the Documentary Achievement Award upon its April world premiere at the Miami Film Festival, Resident Orca tells the shocking story of a captive whale and the fight for her survival and freedom. After decades of failed attempts to bring her home, an unlikely partnership forms between Indigenous matriarchs, a billionaire philanthropist, killer whale experts, and the aquarium’s new owner who take on the herculean task of freeing Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut (Lolita/Tokitae) from the Miami Seaquarium and bringing her home to the Salish Sea.
The film will be available to stream in Canada on Bell Media’s Crave.
Stated Off the Fence Acquisitions Executive Isobel Kinnear, “Sharkey Pearce and Schneider have produced a stunning and compelling film that we know will leave audiences profoundly moved. Our deep-rooted kinship with animals is powerfully told through the heroism of the Lummi Tribe and their fight to set Lolita the whale free. Resident Orca is a perfect example of a film that represents Off the Fence’s core values of championing authentic human and animal storytelling as well as impact programming. Sharing stories that include Indigenous ways of knowing is vital in expanding our understanding of the home we all share and we are proud to be entrusted with such a powerful film that cannot help but inspire audiences worldwide.”
A veteran producer, Pearce came to Resident Orca following work on series like The Devil You Know, Evil by Design: Exposing Peter Nygård, and Yukon Gold. Schneider is a cinematographer who has previously helmed episodes of series like The Nature of Things, Never Say Goodbye, and the aforementioned Yukon Gold.
Exec producers of Resident Orca are Advocate and Lummi Tribal Elders Squil-le-he-le Raynell Morris and Tah-Mahs Ellie Kinley and James Costa (Welcome to Chechnya), Lynne Kirby (Thick Skin), Romney Grant and Melissa Gaucher. The film was made possible with the support of Crave, Bell Media, Canada Media Fund, Rogers Documentary Fund, Creative BC, Province of British Columbia, and the Government of Canada.
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