Dogwoof Inks Key International Deals For Buzzy Docs ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ & ‘Midwives’ — IDFA

EXCLUSIVE: London-based Dogwoof has locked a series of international deals for Jason Kohn’s diamond industry documentary Nothing Lasts Forever and Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing’s debut feature Midwives on the first day of the 2022 IDFA Forum.

Produced by Kilo Films for Showtime and directed by Kohn (Love Means Zero), Nothing Lasts Forever was sold to VPRO (Netherlands), SVT (Sweden), NRK (Norway), DR (Denmark), Movistar/Telefonica (Spain and Andorra), VRT (Belgium), and Madman (Australia and New Zealand).

Further deals include NOS Lusomundo (Portugal and PALOP), HOT8 and Yesdocu (Israel), RTBF (Belgium – French speaking), PTS (Taiwan), PCCW (Hong Kong and Macau), and RUV (Iceland). Showtime holds North American rights.

Producers on the doc include Amanda Branson Gill, Jared Ian Goldman, and Jason Kohn. Executive producers are Vinnie Malhotra for Showtime, and co-producers are Kimberley Hassett, Jonathan Gribetz, and Heloisa Passos.

Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing’s Midwives has sold to NHK (Japan), CBC (Canada), France TV (France), VRT (Belgium), Al Jazeera (MENA), Madman, (Australia and New Zealand), PCCW (Hong Kong, Macau), LRT (Lituania). Previously announced sales include BBC (United Kingdom), SVT (Sweden), VG TV (Norway), DR (Denmark), and RUV (Iceland), with POV holding rights for North America.

The doc is an EyeSteelFilm, Ama Film, Snow Films production, edited and produced by Mila Aung-Thwin and Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing, produced by Ulla Lehmann and Bob Moore in co-production with POV Documentary Films.

The two buzzy docs have enjoyed lengthy festival runs, with Nothing Lasts Forever opening at Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, followed by a North American Premiere at SXSW. Midwives premiered in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at Sundance 2022, where it took home the Excellence In Verité Filmmaking World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award.

Made over ten years, Nothing Lasts Forever follows director Jason Kohn as he infiltrates the secretive diamond industry to uncover a black market in synthetic diamonds, a trade that could threaten the value of every legitimate diamond.

The synopsis continues: More than monetary values are at stake, the universal symbol of love and commitment – the engagement ring – hangs in the balance. Featuring some of the most colorful and powerful industry insiders including Dusan Simic, Aja Raden, Martin Rappaport, Stephen Lussier, and Chandu Sheta, Nothing Lasts Forever launches the viewer deep inside a criminal investigation and forces us to reconsider the creation of value itself.

Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing’s debut follows two midwives, one Buddhist and one Muslim, as they defy strict ethnic divisions to work side by side in a makeshift clinic in western Myanmar, providing medical services to the Rohingya of Rakhine State. Over five years, we witness their struggles, hopes, and dreams amidst an environment of ever-increasing chaos and violence.

The synopsis reads: Midwives is a gentle, still gaze inside a country ripped apart by conflict and religious divisions. Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing’s impartial lens lets the actions of the courageous women speak volumes, highlighting their strength and unity. Midwives is an authentic view inside a country that has long been exoticized and mythologized.