The new division offers free documentaries to support broadcasters and online platforms as productions close down across the world while demand for fresh content persists.

Ruptly, the award-winning international news and media agency, has today announced the launch of a global documentary division with a debut catalogue of over 170 documentaries featuring captivating human interest stories centred around global themes.

To mark the launch, Ruptly Documentary Collection will also be granting one free documentary licence per client in recognition of the difficulties faced by the broadcast industry as more and more productions shut down due to the current pandemic.

“We are proud to have gathered such an array of award-winning content to launch our own dedicated documentary division,” says Matt Tabaccos, Chief Commercial Officer at Ruptly, “And we look forward to expanding our catalogue further, as we increasingly represent new content and bring it to clients across OTT, broadcast network media, production houses and online publishers.”

He adds: “We realise we are launching Ruptly Documentary Collection at a difficult time, where new content is set to become increasingly hard to come by – and it’s critical that we support one another as an industry. With this in mind, Ruptly will be granting one free documentary licence to every client, to help keep our peers afloat amidst an ever-stronger demand for high-quality long-format content that can engage viewers and retain audiences across platforms.”

Clients worldwide, with few territorial restrictions, will be able to procure original documentaries with non-exclusive rights and a 30-day broadcast window, or a period of 30 days online, maintaining a flow of exceptional content for their audiences despite the current lockdowns.

Headed by Olivia Cole, Development Manager of Ruptly Documentary Collection, the new division will also actively forge new partnerships with documentary production companies and content owners; acquiring distribution rights for newly produced documentaries as well as existing catalogues.

Dinara Toktosunova, CEO of Ruptly, comments: “This is an exciting new adventure for Ruptly as we embark on our next stage of growth. We aim to keep expanding the exceptional set of services that we offer to our clients, moving into new areas that match our unique capabilities to their operational and commercial needs – this is another example of our continued drive to explore new ways to deliver for those who work with us.”

With a particular focus on human stories and unexplored communities, Ruptly’s debut slate is packed with emotionally charged highlights. Celebrating the stories of people and communities from around the world, from overcrowded cities and battle-scarred warzones, to the African savannah and deepest Siberia, no area of the human experience is left uncovered.

Among the key titles launching today are:

The Coca Trap, which follows rural Colombians whose livelihoods rest upon growing coca leaf, under constant threat from predatory drug traffickers.

Dying Alone, an exploration of the Japanese phenomenon of kodokushi – ‘lonely death’ –, now so prominent that there is an entire industry built on cleaning the apartments of the recently deceased who passed with no one to care for them.

When an Elephant Smiles, the story of a woman who brazenly turned her family farm in the heart of Zimbabwe into a wildlife sanctuary, nurturing orphaned and injured animals back to health before returning them to the wild.

Syrian Tango, an ode to the uniting power of arts, shedding light on the dancers, artists and musicians who formed an art collective in the midst of the Syrian war, channelling their creative passion in a time of extreme conflict.

To Be a Cosmonaut, an account following three candidates on the gruelling selection process to become cosmonauts, pushing their bodies to the limit in a bid to reach the stars and realise their dreams.

Baikal Babushka: Songs of Life, which introduces audiences to 78-year-old Lyubov, a woman living alone on the remote shoreline of Lake Baikal, contending with the harsh climate and the pull of her family.