"1979: The Year of the Islamist Revolution"
TVF International has secured sales for a number of award-winning titles to partners across Germany and France. RTL Germany pre-bought "Arming the Arctic" (1x50), a Broadcast ‘Hot Pick’ for MIPCOM, for its channel ntv. The investigative one-off, a co-production between Wildcat Films and TVF International, uncovers how the Arctic is quickly becoming the latest geopolitical battleground between East and West.
The award-winning mini-series, "1979: The Year of the Islamist Revolution" (2x50), is heading to both Germany and France, having been acquired by public broadcaster partnership, ZDF/Arte. The archive-driven series chronicles the origins of Islamic fundamentalism and its subsequent rise, culminating in the 9/11 attacks.
The distributor also sent aerial documentary series "Italy from Above" (2x52), "Spain from Above" (2x52), and the fourth season of "Aerial Profiles" (5x52), to German pubcaster, ZDF. The pubcaster also licensed aerial documentaries: "Oman From Above" (1x52), "Iceland From Above" (1x52), and "Luxembourg and Belgium From Above" (1x52).
Also in Germany, Ushuaia TV’s "Eco-Heroines" (13x52), which spotlights female conservationists around the globe, was acquired by Docs de Cologne, who also picked up "Bear: Koala Hero" (1x48) from Butter Media. The latter title follows Bear, the koala detection dog turned international hero, as he goes about rescuing koalas from fires in the heart of Australia’s bushlands.
In France, the beetz brothers’ production "Supernova: The Music Festival Massacre" (1x32/1x52), went to Canal+ and to French-language Belgian pubcaster RTBF. The film, which recently won big at Germany’s Television Awards, chronicles the events of October 7th 2023 using eye-witness testimony and video evidence.
Canal+ France also landed high-stakes series, "The Negotiators International" (4x48), which offers exclusive access into the world of hostage negotiations. The Mediacorp-produced series was recently awarded Best True Crime Documentary at the World Media Festival Awards.
ARTE also acquired a Mediacorp title, the investigative series, "Walk the Line" (3x48). The series, which follows Chinese migrants attempting to journey across the notorious Darién Gap, won both Best Documentary Series and Best Factual Presenter at the Asian Academy Creative Awards in December.
Elsewhere in France, Mediawan Thematics picked up a number of science titles from TVF International, taking "AI at Work" (1x52) which examines the implications of AI on the modern workforce, and "Bending Light" (1x52), which revisits a 1922 expedition to Australia that sought to prove Einstein’s theory of relativity.
All deals in France were brokered by Senior Sales Executive: Europe, Ben Nohr, and all German deals by Senior Sales Manager, Daniyal Bari, who commented: “Broadcasters across France and Germany are advocates of quality factual storytelling, which resonates with our values as a distributor. We are proud to have collaborated with our partners in the regions on such a broad range of titles, from historical documentaries like '1979: The Year of the Islamist Revolution' that enable viewers to understand the Iranian regime today, to wildlife conservation documentaries like 'Eco-Heroines' which offer a profound insight into the challenges faced, in a world where climate change, deforestation and hunting pose great risks to many species."