CBC/Radio-Canada and ZDF have announced a partnership to formalise and strengthen collaboration between the two public broadcasters.
Catherine Tait, President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada and Thomas Bellut, Director General of ZDF, ratified a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in the presence of Stéphane Dion, Canada’s Ambassador to Germany.
Currently, CBC/Radio-Canada and ZDF/ARTE are co-producing Writing the Land, a four-part documentary in which Canadian writers, poets and storytellers reveal a country in the throes of intense soul-searching, bring to light injustices, and challenge the narrative of an inclusive Canada. Many of these authors will participate in this year’s Frankfurter Buchmesse (FBM), where Canada will be featured as the country of honour, in October 2020.
In addition to the partnership announcement, Mr. Bellut confirmed that he has accepted to become a member of the Global Task Force for Public Media chaired by Ms. Tait.
Other members of the Task Force are David Anderson (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), Delphine Ernotte (France Télévisions), Tony Hall (BBC), Dr. Jim Mather (Radio New Zealand), and Hanna Stjärne (Sveriges Television).
CBC/Radio-Canada and ZDF already share a rich history of successful acquisitions and co-productions, especially with documentaries such as In Search of a Perfect World, with Claus Kleber and Peter Mansbridge (co-produced with ARTE), Nature’s Cleanup Crew, the award-winning The Kingdom: How Fungi Made Our World (co-produced with ARTE and the ABC), and China Rises (co-produced with The New York Times.) Today’s MOU promises many more collaborations between the two broadcasters over its three-year term. Read Catherine Tait’s speech in Berlin, Germany, announcing CBC/Radio-Canada’s partnership with ZDF.
The Memorandum Of Understanding between CBC/Radio-Canada and ZDF marks the third such collaboration between Canada’s public broadcaster and its European counterparts. Tait signed similar agreements with Australia’s ABC in June 2019 and the U.K.’s BBC in July 2019.