There was plenty of news last week in Cannes, which was a change from the years when the market became the news. MIP veterans still recall their tales of getting home in 2010 when the ash cloud grounded planes. They are also accustomed to negotiating plane and train industrial action that can make getting in […]
The television content business might be a sucker for a new medium to explore, but virtual reality programming might just be the real thing. MIPTV takeaways: #1 no Rising Star, but Roots established MIPTV takeaways: #2 VR now a reality? MIPTV takeaways: #3 Vivendi puts Europe in the spotlight MIPTV takeaways: #4 eclectic talent on the Croisette MIPTV takeaways: […]
German distributor Autentic will launch doc series Mafia Queens and Children of Dictators at MIPDoc and MIPTV. The 4x52mins Autentic and Spot Production series Children of Dictators interviews the offspring of infamous dictators including Lucia Pinochet in Chile, Jaffar Amin in Uganda and Bettina Goering. Another four parter for the market is Mafia Queens, which delves in the […]
True crime: A new wave of true crime series that ape the structure of serialised dramas has emerged on screens across the world. Jesse Whittock looks at the evidence Gary Davey interview: Having worked in the UK, Italy and Germany, Gary Davey is now the content boss for the Europe-wide Sky operation. At NATPE in […]
Upside Television’s Ø Gravity, A Mission in Space was the most-screened doc by buyers at MIPDOC last week. The one-off had its world premiere at the documentary market, in part explaining the level of interest. The show follows two young astronauts as they train for their inaugural space mission, and then the mission itself. Astronaut […]
Discovery’s incoming content chief, Phil Craig, will give a keynote address at MIPDoc in Cannes in April. His equivalent at National Geographic Channel, Tim Pastore, will also give a keynote address at the factual market, which precedes MIPTV. Former Nutopia and ABC Australia exec Craig (pictured, top left) starts at Discovery next week as executive […]
National Geographic’s space series Cosmos – A Spacetime Odyssey was the most-screened programme at this year’s MIPDoc in Cannes. The big-budget series proved popular with doc buyers in town for the factual market although by programming category, history was the most-screened genre. Behind Cosmos was Polish series Warsaw 1935 3D, which shows the city in […]
MIPTV and MIPCOM organiser Reed MIDEM has elevated Lucy Smith to director of the MIPDoc, MIPFormats and MIPJunior events. Smith has been upped from director of conferences. In that role she has built up the MIPTV and MIPCOM conference line-ups and attracted A-list industry figures and on-screen talent for keynotes and related sessions. MIPJunior has […]
A Dutch public broadcaster has become the latest to acquire The Sound of Torture, a chilling documentary about refugee kidnappings in the Sinai Desert. Esther Van Messel, CEO of the film’s distributor First Hand Films, told TBI pubcaster Vara has acquired the 1x52mins doc (aka Journey Story), which comes from Israel’s Trabelsi Production and satcaster […]
Despite European public channels closing documentary slots and growing competition from hosted factual and reality series, the French single doc industry is finding success by diversifying and while presales are tough to secure, emerging territories are seeking international copro partners. Pascale Paoli-Lebailly explores the market. At MIPDoc in April, five out of the ten most […]
