Mandela doc resonantes with presales

A doc celebrating the life and achievements of former South African president Nelson Mandela has presold to 19 territories.

Mandela: The Struggle is My Life was coproduced by BSkyB-owned Sky News and distributor Sky Vision. It features archive footage from Sky News, plus interviews with Desmond Tutu, F.W. De Klerk and members of Mandela’s ANC party who were imprisoned along with the global statesman during the Apartheid era.

Network 10 in Australia, CCTV in China, TVB in Hong Kong, Brazil’s GloboSat, Singapore’s MediaCorp, TVI in Portugal, TV2 in Norway, TV4 in Sweden and Finland, TV2 in Denmark, RTL in the Netherlands, Spektrum Television in Hungary and Czech Republic, Solar News Channel in the Philippines, Belgium’s VRT, Israel’s Channel 8, Mongolia’s Mongol TV, ViaSat in Tanzania and South African broadcaster SABC have all acquired the 1x60mins doc.

Sky Vision has also sold the 4x30mins/1x90mins Royalty Close Up, which comes from Brassneck Productions and explores the work of royal photojournalist Kent Gavin, to Foxtel and SBS in Australia, Sky TV in New Zealand, Globosat in Brazil and Spektrum in Hungary and Czech Republic.

Elsewhere, 365 Media Iceland and MTV3 Finland acquired 10x30mins series The Capones, produced by Asylum Entertainment. The ob doc follows the exploits of a family directly descended from Prohibition era gangster Al Capone.

Jane Millichip, director of global sales at Sky Vision, said: “Factual programming, ranging from high-end specialist factual to light-hearted US reality, remains a cornerstone of our programme strategy, alongside our rapidly growing drama, comedy and entertainment slates.”