ANIMAL PLANET PREMIERES DOCUMENTARY FILM “WATSON” ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 22 at 8PM ET/PT
- WATSON Directed by Award-winning Documentarian Lesley Chilcott -
December 5, 2019
(New York, NY) –Animal Planet will premiere Participant and Terra Mater Factual Studios’ documentary film WATSON, which chronicles Sea Shepherd founder Captain Paul Watson, who has spent his life sailing the globe to keep our oceans and their inhabitants safe, on Sunday, December 22 at 8PM ET/PT. The film opened in select U.S. theaters earlier this year after its World Premiere at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, where it was runner-up for the Documentary Audience Award. Additional screenings in 2019 included Zurich Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival and Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, among others.
Captain Watson and his crews have confronted whaling vessels from Europe to the Southern Ocean, seal hunters in Canada, and shark finners in Central America. WATSON blends revealing contemporary interviews with Captain Watson, archival clips of Sea Shepherd’s dramatic encounters, and spectacular underwater nature footage, as award-winning documentarian Lesley Chilcott (An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for “Superman”) paints a fascinating portrait of a man willing to put his own life at risk in a relentless quest to protect the oceans and the marine life within
Animal Planet is home to the popular Primetime Emmy Award® nominated series, Whale Wars (2008-2015), which followed Captain Watson and members of his Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, available to U.S. audiences via the Animal Planet GO app.
WATSON is an Animal Planet, Participant and Terra Mater Factual Studios presentation of an Invented by Girls production. The film is directed by Lesley Chilcott, produced by Louise Runge, Lesley Chilcott, Wolfgang Knöpfler, with Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Elise Pearlstein, Walter Köhler and Dinah Czezik-Müller serving as executive producers. Cinematographer is Logan Schneider and composer is Christophe Beck. For Animal Planet, the production is overseen by Erin Wanner, Senior Vice President, Production.
About Participant
Founded by Chairman Jeff Skoll and under the leadership of CEO David Linde, Participant (www.participantmedia.com) combines the power of a good story well told with real world impact and awareness around today’s most vital issues. Through its worldwide network of traditional and digital distribution, aligned with partnerships with key non-profit and NGO organizations, Participant speaks directly to the rise of today’s “conscious consumer,” representing the well over 2 billion consumers compelled to make meaningful content a priority focus.
As an industry content leader, Participant annually produces up to six narrative feature films, five documentary films, three episodic television series, and more than 30 hours of digital short form programming, through its digital subsidiary SoulPancake. Participant’s more than 100 films have collectively earned 73 Academy Award® nominations and 18 wins, including Best Picture for Spotlight and Green Book and Best Foreign Language Film for Roma and A Fantastic Woman. Participant’s digital division, SoulPancake (www.soulpancake.com), is an award-winning provider of thought-provoking, joyful, and uplifting content and reaches an audience of over 9 million fans. Follow Participant Media on Twitter (@Participant) and on Facebook and Instagram. Follow SoulPancake on Twitter (@soulpancake) and on Facebook and Instagram.
About Terra Mater Factual Studios
Terra Mater Factual Studios specialize in premium factual programming for TV, multimedia platforms and theatrical release with a commitment to the highest production values regarding visual excellence, innovative technology and amazing storytelling. Core genres are nature, science and history presented in blue-chip primetime series and specials. The production company also brings together a wide array of genres and styles to create exciting new factual and entertainment formats. For the big screen, TMFS produce stories that are highly relevant and strongly rooted in reality: from the classical feature doc to wild drama, where nature plays the main role, further on to fiction films, where real stories are the matrix for our scripts. TMFS runs their own YouTube and Instagram channel with engaging videos about the beauty and value of nature equally as about environmental and conservation topics with the mission to inspire people to take care of our planet – because #terramatters.
TMFS’ diverse portfolio contains more than 200 hours, honored with almost 250 international film festival awards. In 2017, its feature doc ‘The Ivory Game’ was on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Shortlist for the Oscars®. TMFS’ latest coup was the prestigious Audience Award at Sundance Festival 2019 for its fresh feature doc ‘Sea of Shadows’.
For more information, please visit www.terramater.at and look out for #terramatters across social platforms.
About Sea Shepherd
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is the world's most passionate and powerful protector of ocean life. Since 1977, they have been on a mission to defend, conserve and protect the seas and marine wildlife like no organization can. As the largest private navy in the world, they lead direct-to-action, collaborative campaigns all 'For The Oceans.' For more information about Sea Shepard and their campaigns, please visit seashepherd.org.
About Animal Planet
Animal Planet, one of Discovery, Inc.’s great global brands, is dedicated to creating high quality content with global appeal delivering on its mission to keep the childhood joy and wonder of animals alive by bringing people up close in every way. Available to 360 million homes in more than 205 countries and territories, Animal Planet combines content that explores the undeniable bonds forged between animals and humans, optimized across all screens around the world. In the U.S., Animal Planet audiences can enjoy their favorite programming anytime, anywhere through the Animal Planet GO app which features live and on-demand access. For more information, please visit www.animalplanet.com.
About Discovery
Discovery, Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) is a global leader in real life entertainment, serving a passionate audience of superfans around the world with content that inspires, informs and entertains. Discovery delivers over 8,000 hours of original programming each year and has category leadership across deeply loved content genres around the world. Available in 220 countries and territories and nearly 50 languages, Discovery is a platform innovator, reaching viewers on all screens, including TV Everywhere products such as the GO portfolio of apps; direct-to-consumer streaming services such as Eurosport Player and MotorTrend OnDemand; digital-first and social content from Group Nine Media; a landmark natural history and factual content partnership with the BBC; and a strategic alliance with PGA TOUR to create the international home of golf. Discovery’s portfolio of premium brands includes Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, and Science Channel, as well as OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network in the U.S., Discovery Kids in Latin America, and Eurosport, the leading provider of locally relevant, premium sports and Home of the Olympic Games across Europe. For more information, please visit corporate.discovery.com and follow @DiscoveryIncTV across social platforms.