TVF International News

Sundance backs Kate Moss doc

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Factual distributor TVF International has secured a co-production deal with Sundance Channel for a one-off documentary about supermodel Kate Moss.

Kate! The Making Of An Icon includes exclusive interviews with designer Vivienne Westwood, film-maker Mike Figgis and renowned artists and photographers.

The deal brings Sundance Channel on board as key partners in a collaboration between TVF, Berlin-based production company Lona Media and Franco-German commissioner Arte.

Zecki Gerloff, co-production head at TVF, said the doc would provide an “insightful and revealing look at the heart of today’s fashion world”.

Shot in New York, London, Paris, Milan, Berlin and Beijing, the film claims to be the first documentary to trace Kate Moss’ iconic status to its origins, revealing her as a model, muse, mother, and millionaire.

TVF International’s director, Leila Monks, brokered the deal and has already secured deals for the documentary with XYZ Australia, VRT in Belgium and Globosat in Brazil as well as generating “major UK interest”.

Michael Rosser, Broadcast

TVF's Firestorm blows into UK

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

UK-based factual distributor TVF International has finalised a host of post-MipTV sales, including selling nature disaster doc Inside The Firestorm (1x120'/2x60') to broadcasters in the UK and Switzerland.

Cable network AETN UK and Swiss pubcaster SF have both picked up the Renegade Films-produced programme, which looks at the bush fires that ravaged Australia in February 2009, claiming 173 lives and leaving almost 8,000 homeless. The doc originally aired down under on ABC.

AETN UK also bought Cult Killer (1x47'), a doc looking at the legacy of a cult that institutionalised paedophilia. TVF's director Leila Monks and sales manager Tatjana von Stein brokered the deals.

Von Stein said Firestorm had proven one of the distributor's most popular titles in Cannes. "The volcano eruption may have been the cause of a post-MipTV manic buzz, but in the run-up to and during Cannes, it was the buzz of a resurging market," she said.

Elsewhere, Australia's Foxtel picked up a package of 25 hours of history, biography and crime programming, including Shooting The War (3x60'), Second Life (1x52') and Norm (1x56'); while Living TV New Zealand secured 18 hours of programming, including One Degree Matters (1x52'), a doc presenting the latest science and solutions on climate change.

In the US, Halogen picked up A Song To Africa (1x53'), a portrait of Ugandan orphans; while in France, Planete bought The State of the Planet's Oceans (1x54') and Hitler's Favourite Royal (1x49'). Meanwhile, French satcaster Ushuaia TV acquired Oceanic Electric Power (1x52') and Return To Penguin City (1x48').

Adam Benzine, C21

TVF to Do It in China

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

UK-based distributor TVF International has sold Wag TV's science series How Do They Do It? (30x26') into China and Australia.

The series, which airs in the UK, US and Canada on Discovery Channel, has been picked up by Wuhan TV in China and ABC2 in Australia.

Elsewhere, Discovery Asia has acquired Sky View (4x27') and Fortress Britain (1x45'), both of which are shot from a bird's eye perspective and both of which originally aired on US cablenet Smithsonian Channel.

Nat Geo UK, meanwhile, has taken Smithsonian's Tudor Age (1x46') and Hi-Fi's Oasis Earth (1x52'). A deal has also been penned with The Knowledge Network in Canada, which has acquired BBC one-off La Dolce Vita Africana (1x55'), a documentary looking at the life of Malian photographer Malick Sidibe.

Italian broadcaster Mediaset has bought Flashbacks (52x2'), a collection of shorts that looks at a range of important historical moments, from the Battle of Dunkirk to JFK's assassination.

Finally, Music of the Brain (1x55') and State of the Planet's Oceans (1x54') have been sold to UR, the Swedish Educational Broadcasting System.

Adam Benzine, C21

Dragonfly lands Autopsy deal

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

UK indie Dragonfly Film and Televison Productions has inked a deal with a London-based distributor for its seven-part Channel 4 documentary Autopsy.

Autopsy: Life And Death (4x60') and Autopsy: Emergency Room (3x60') have been picked up by factual distributor TVF International, as part of its January slate of acquisitions focusing on science, health and the arts.

The distributor has also picked up Asian Food Channels' Palm Oil (1x48'), which discusses the world's most popular oil and the effect it could be having on our health; and I Remember Better When I Paint (1x54'), which looks at the positive effects art and creativity can have for Alzheimer's sufferers.

"Science and health programming has always sold well internationally, and with fewer original commissions available we are experiencing very strong sales in this area," said TVF's head of acquisitions Amy Nelson.

Other newly acquired specials include In Search Of The Messiah, profiling the legendary Stradivari violins; and Comrades, which follows six characters across a 90km double marathon.

Adam Benzine, C21