WGBH Boston, America’s largest producer of PBS content, has pre-bought from ARTE The Blob, A Genius Without A Brain for its production NOVA, the most-watched primetime science series on American television, reaching an average of five million viewers weekly.

NOVA’s version of the film, Secret Mind of Slime is slated to premiere in premiere fall 2020 on PBS. Produced in 4K by Hauteville Productions (Karina Si Ahmed) for ARTE’s science slot,  The Blob, A Genius Without A Brain, blends science fiction, animation, the beauty of nature, humor and cutting-edge science, to explore a surprising organism, the blob, more commonly known as a slime mold. Neither animal, nor plant, nor fungus, the blob is one giant single cell whose amazing capacities are leading scientists to the new world of brainless intelligence and offering a glimpse into the very roots of cognition.

“We love delivering mind-blowing science to our viewers,” says NOVA Co-Executive Producer Julia Cort. “Slime molds certainly fall into that category: single-celled organisms who can navigate mazes, choose between foods, and create efficient networks—no brain required.”

“Although they’ve been around for one billion years, slime molds are now leading us into a whole new area of science,” adds NOVA Co-Executive Producer Chris Schmidt. “This film follows pioneering experts on an international investigation that could challenge our worldview on living matter and uncover the secrets of brainless intelligence.”

ARTE Distribution has sold and pre-sold The Blob, A Genius Without A Brain to other territories such as NHK in Japan, BBC in the UK, SVT in Sweden, Planète + in France, Radio Canada, RTHK in Hong Kong, CCTV in China, EBS in Korea, Planet + in Poland, and RTS in Serbia.

“There is a high international demand for science,” explains Céline Payot Lehmann from ARTE Distribution, “as it’s a universal theme that travels well and answers the market’s need for high production value (4K, CGI, 3D…). ARTE has a very successful weekly science slot for which we constantly seek partners and pre-sales. We are launching for example The Magical World of Moss produced by Zadig and ARTE France. Moss is at the origin of life on Earth and is helping scientists in the nuclear field and biotechnologies. Another example is Searching For Planet 9, produced by Look for Science and Arte France, that follows the space race for our 9th planet, located at the edge of our solar system.”

The Blob, A Genius Without A Brain is produced by Hauteville Productions and ARTE France in association with NOVA/WGBH Boston, CNRS Images, and Planète +.

NOVA Secret Mind of Slime is a NOVA Production by Semicolon Pictures LLC for WGBH Boston in association with Hauteville Productions for ARTE France and CNRS Images.