‘March of the Penguins’ Producer Bonne Pioche Acquired by Federation Entertainment

variety.com:

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFederation Entertainment has acquired a majority stake in Bonne Pioche, the French production company behind the Oscar-winning documentary “March of the Penguins.” Active in documentaries, animation and drama, Bonne Pioche will retain full editorial freedom and will parter up with Federation on development and production, as well as back office and international sales.

The company’s workforce, which includes 36 staff members, will remain in place. Federation has a 51-percent stake in Bonne Pioche. “We look forward to bringing together the best creators to nourish our original and diversified editorial content,” said Yves Darondeau and Emmanuel Priou, the co-heads of Bonne Pioche. “We are very excited about this new stage in the life of Bonne Pioche.

What drives us is our desire to be as close as possible to the talents we support. Bonne Pioche is defined by our team on one hand and the great diversity of our productions of documentaries, comedies, genre films and shows on the other hand,” added the pair.

Pascal Breton and Lionel Uzan, partners at Federation, said “Emmanuel and Yves are true craftsmen (who are) capable of developing the riskiest projects with their teams and turning them into success stories like their Oscar for ‘March of the Penguins.'” “This ‘artisan adventurer’ approach is essential for us and responds to the current desire of networks and platforms to share great documentaries, series and cinema films that are increasingly original and ambitious.” Federation, whose credits include the hit spy series “The Bureau,” recently launched U.S.