yes Studios announces new deals for 44 Hours
November 20, 2023
DOcumentary title 44 Hours has secured new homes in the US, Norway and New Zealand, courtesy of recently finalised deals by yes Studios.
Launched to the market earlier this year, the 1×83 feature-length documentary version of 44 Hours will now become available as a TVoD title on Prime Video. The 1×60 version has been acquired by NRK in Norway for its linear channels (NRK1, 2 & 3) and VoD platform, while in New Zealand, the feature version has been licensed to DocEdge Virtual Cinema, the year-round viewing platform that supports the influential Doc Edge Festival.
44 Hours tells the riveting, unbelievable and profoundly moving story of Gil Avni, a sports-mad, healthy 33-year-old father of two, who was rushed to hospital after being taken suddenly ill. When he is pronounced brain-dead and given only a few hours to live, his family and friends visit to say their goodbyes. What nobody knows – neither the medical team nor his relatives – is that Gil is aware of what is happening around him and can hear every single word, which he memorises.
Totally paralysed and unable to voice the screaming in his head, he feels like a guest at his own funeral. And just when he comes to terms with the fact that, after 44 hours, he’s about to die, he astonishingly wakes up and recounts every single minute of his harrowing locked-in experience. With only two other known cases worldwide, his story provides the world’s first living testimony of a locked-in syndrome. Featuring interviews with a fully recovered Gil, his family and the lead medics that cared for him, this incredible story of coming back from the dead is life-affirming and truly the substance of miracles. His unique case and subsequent work with medics have led to important changes in medical ethics and protocols regarding teetering on the verge between life and death.
44 Hours is a yes Docu, Rotem Gross and Einat-Hana Shamir production, co-produced with Neue Celluloid Fabrik Filmproduktion and SWR (Germany), in co-operation with ARTE (France). It debuted to great acclaim on yes TV earlier this year and was also a Top 10 title when it launched on Netflix in Israel. yes Studios handles the worldwide distribution for the documentary.