ARLINGTON, VA, August 24, 2023 – PBS Distribution announced today that celebrated Canadian drama
LITTLE BIRD will premiere October 12th at 9:00 p.m. ET on PBS and across all PBS platforms in the US
(check local listings). From Rezolution Pictures and OP Little Bird, and Canadian broadcasters Crave and
APTN, in partnership with Fremantle, the six-part, one-hour limited series explores universal themes of
resilience in the face of trauma and loss. It follows Bezhig Little Bird (Darla Contois) as she embarks on a
path to find her birth family and uncover the hidden truth of her family history.

PBS will also broadcast and stream COMING HOME, a 90-minute companion documentary providing
historical context about the Sixties Scoop on October 12th at 10:00 ET (check local listings). Directed by
Erica Daniels (Run as One), COMING HOME explores the connections between the ground-breaking
movement for Indigenous narrative sovereignty and the impact of the child welfare system as experienced
through the LITTLE BIRD series’ Indigenous creatives, crew, and Sixties Scoop advisors. COMING
HOME provides a structuring through-line, interwoven with interviews with cast, crew, and community
members revealing personal connections to the Sixties Scoop.

LITTLE BIRD and COMING HOME will stream on all station-branded PBS platforms including PBS.org,
and the PBS App, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon
Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast, and VIZIO. Both programs will also be available to stream on
PBS Passport and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel.

Removed from her home in Long Pine Reserve in Saskatchewan, Bezhig Little Bird is adopted into a
Montréal Jewish family at age five, becoming Esther Rosenblum. Now in her 20s, Bezhig longs for the
family she lost and is willing to sacrifice everything to find them. Her search lands her in the Canadian
Prairies, worlds apart from everything she knows. As she begins to track down her siblings, she unravels
the mystery behind her adoption and discovers that her apprehension was connected to a racist
government policy, now known as the Sixties Scoop. Bezhig’s sense of identity shatters, and she is forced
to reckon with who she is and who she wants to become.

Led by Contois, the character-driven drama features a talented cast of Indigenous actors, including: Ellyn
Jade; Osawa Muskwa; Joshua Odjick; Imajyn Cardinal; Braeden Clarke; Eric Schweig; and Michelle
Thrush. Rounding out the cast is Lisa Edelstein (House, M.D., Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce) who plays
Esther’s adoptive mother, Golda Rosenblum.

The recent winner of the coveted Audience Award at the 2023 SERIES MANIA Festival in Lille, France,
LITTLE BIRD was filmed in and around Winnipeg and Brokenhead Ojibway Nation on Treaty 1 territory, in
Sioux Valley Dakota Nation on Treaty 2 territory. LITTLE BIRD showrunner Jennifer Podemski was also
recently presented with an Academy Board Of Directors’ Tribute Award at the 2023 Canadian Screen
Awards.

“PBS is proud to bring American viewers the premiere of LITTLE BIRD ” says Maria Bruno Ruiz, Vice
President, Program Content Strategy and Scheduling at PBS. “It is a very powerful story that not only
engages and pulls on your heartstrings, but also educates on a time in history that is rarely portrayed.”
“We aspire to bring programs rich in culture and diversity to our audience and we’re thrilled to add the
inspiring LITTLE BIRD story to our platforms,” said Germaine Sweet, Managing Director, Content
Acquisitions at PBS Distribution. “In addition to the creative brilliance of Jennifer Podemski and Hannah
Moscovitch, this series showcases an important time in North American history to learn from and
profoundly remember.”

“Little Bird is a crucial story that requires sensitivity and boldness to shed light on a piece of history that is
not widely known. We are proud to collaborate with PBS to ensure that this story reaches audiences in the
United States and receives the recognition it deserves,” said Lisa Honig, Senior EVP Distribution North
America, Fremantle.

Led by an Indigenous creative team, Little Bird is developed by showrunner, Jennifer Podemski and
Rezolution Pictures, and created by Podemski and head writer Hannah Moscovitch. The creative team
includes directors Zoe Hopkins and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and was written by Hopkins and Moscovitch.
The series is executive produced by Christina Fon, Ernest Webb, Catherine Bainbridge, Linda Ludwick
(Rezolution Pictures), Kim Todd, Nicholas Hirst (Original Pictures), Jennifer Podemski, Hannah
Moscovitch, Zoe Hopkins, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Jeremy Podeswa, along with Christian Vesper and
Dante Di Loreto (Fremantle). Producers are Tanya Brunel and Jessica Dunn (OP Little Bird), Claire
MacKinnon and Philippe Chabot Rezolution Pictures) and Lori Lozinski and Ellen Rutter. Fremantle
handles global sales.

For Bell Media, Alison Korogyi is Development Executive; Rachel Goldstein-Couto is Head of
Development, Original Programming; Mitch Geddes is Production Executive; Sarah Fowlie is Head of
Production, Original Programming; Carlyn Klebuc is General Manager, Original Programming; Tory
Jennings is Director of Content, Crave; Justin Stockman is Vice-President, Content Development &
Programming; and Karine Moses is Senior Vice-President, Content Development & News, Bell Media and
Vice Chair, Québec, Bell.

For APTN, Adam Garnet Jones is Director of TV Content and Special Events, Danelle Granger is
Executive in charge of Development and Scripted Content, and Lisa Ducharme is Director of Online
Content and Deliverables.

LITTLE BIRD and COMING HOME join the slate of Indigenous programming PBS will broadcast this fall
in celebration of Native American Heritage, including THE AMERICAN BUFFALO by Ken Burns
premiering October 16, NATIVE AMERICAN SEASON TWO premiering October 24, and NEXT AT THE
KENNEDY CENTER “Embracing Duality: Modern Indigenous Cultures” premiering soon.

Media Contacts:
Caitlin Jaynes, Ali Smith, MPRM Communications
cjaynes@mprm.com
asmith@mprm.com

Becky Scullin, PBS
brscullin@pbs.org

Emma Harvey, Ron Del Rio, FremantleMedia North America
Emma.Harvey@fremantle.com
Ron.DelRio@fremantle.com

About PBS DISTRIBUTION
PBS Distribution is a leading distributor of public media content around the world, entertaining audiences
across platforms and formats. The company, a joint venture of PBS and GBH Boston, provides premium
content through multiple digital channels and video services. PBS Distribution operates six subscription
streaming channels — PBS Masterpiece (US and CA), PBS KIDS, PBS Living, PBS Documentaries and
PBS America (U.K.) as well as numerous Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (FAST) Channels in the U.S
and U.K. In addition, the company reaches viewers through Transactional Video-on-Demand (TVOD),
Subscription Video-on-Demand (SVOD) licensing, Advertising-based Video on Demand (AVOD), DVD and
Blu-ray, theatrical releasing, educational platforms, non-theatrical and inflight sales, and serves
broadcasters and producers providing program sales and co-production financing.
PBS Distribution offers consumers and educators the highest quality factual, scripted, and children’s
programming including films from Ken Burns, hit series from Masterpiece and foreign language dramas
from Walter Presents, entertaining and educational PBS KIDS series, and award-winning documentaries
from NOVA, FRONTLINE, AMERICAN MASTERS, NATURE, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, and many
independent producers. For over 10 years, the company has extended the reach of programming beyond
broadcast while generating revenue for the public television system, stations, and producers.
Follow PBS Distribution on Facebook.

About Fremantle
Fremantle is one of the world’s largest and most successful creators, producers and distributors of
Entertainment, Drama & Film and Documentaries. Operating in 27 territories we are a proudly
independent group of content creators. We produce and deliver high-quality multi-genre IP including some
of the biggest entertainment formats, most watched international dramas, award winning films and hardhitting
documentaries, amplifying local stories on a global scale. From Idols to The Mosquito Coast, The
Price is Right to The Hand of God, The Farmer Wants A Wife to Arctic Drift, Family Feud to My Brilliant
Friend and Bones & All to Planet Sex our focus is simple – we create and deliver irresistible
entertainment. We are also a world leader in digital and branded entertainment with more than 470 million
fans across 2,000 social channels and over 34 billion views per year across all Platforms. Fremantle is
part of RTL Group, a global leader across broadcast, content and digital, itself a division of the
international media giant Bertelsmann.

For more information, please visit www.fremantle.com, follow us on Twitter @FremantleHQ and Instagram
@fremantle or visit our LinkedIn page.

About Rezolution Pictures
Rezolution Pictures is an award-winning production company that’s changing the narrative when it comes
to diversity and representation in the entertainment landscape. They have established original Indigenous
content within mainstream media and sold programming around the world in major markets to
broadcasters including GEM, APTN, Superchannel, OMNI, TVO, CBC, RDI, ARTV, Télé-Québec, FNX,
Vision Maker and internationally with PBS, Peacock +, ARTE. The Emmy-nominated Rumble: The Indians
Who Rocked the World has won awards at Sundance, Hot Docs and the CSAs and the Gemini- and
Peabody-winning Reel Injun has been inducted into the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences
Museum.

About OP Little Bird
OP Little Bird, is a Winnipeg-based company, majority-owned by Manitoba independent producer Tanya
Brunel, Métis from the Red River region and member of the Manitoba Métis Federation. The other
shareholders are Original Pictures Manitoba, a company controlled by producer Jessica Dunn and
Original Pictures Inc. a boutique production company with offices in Winnipeg, Toronto and Calgary,
founded by its president Emmy-award winner Kim Todd (The Handmaid’s Tale, Brave New World, Falcon
Beach).