"Castles From Above"
TVF International has reached a swell of deals across Central and Eastern Europe in NATPE Budapest. “TVF’s success in providing quality arts, world affairs and factual entertainment in Central and Eastern Europe demonstrates the universal appeal of premium unscripted programming in the territory. TVF are committed to providing compelling and diverse stories to all our partners in the region and are delighted to have attended a productive NATPE Budapest with our brand new Summer Slate,” said TVF’s CEE Sales Executive, Matt Langley.
The distributor licensed a package of premium arts titles to Polish public broadcaster, Telewizja Polska (TVP), including ZDF/Arte’s "Marlon Brando: In Paradise" (1x52) from Berlin Producers, the Sky Arts-commissioned "Hepworth A Life in Sculpture" (1x50) from Unity House Productions and RTÉ’s "Jack B. Yeats: The Man Who Painted Ireland" (1x50) from Averner Limited. The pubcaster also license a trio of BBC-commissioned biographies: "Gauguin: A Dangerous Life" (1x60), "Titian: Behind Closed Doors" (1x57) and "Winston Churchill: Blood, Sweat and Oil Paint" (1x60) from Wavelength Films.
TVP World licensed three award-winning titles commissioned by Singaporean broadcaster, "Channel News Asia: Danger Zone" (7x24) from Mediacorp, which goes inside the world’s most dangerous conflict zones to meet the civilians living on the frontlines, "Keeping the Music Alive: In Defiance of the Taliban" (2x48) from Babel Doc, which follows an all-female orchestra in Afghanistan, and US & China: "When Titans Clash" (4x48) which chronicles the geopolitical struggle between the superpowers.
Also in Poland, TVF licensed "Supernova: The Music Festival Massacre" (1x52) from Gebrueder Beetz to TVN24. TVN24 also licensed "Polio’s Last Battle" (1x48), which follows healthcare professionals fighting to vaccinate against polio in remote areas of Pakistan, and "MH370: A Decade On" (1x48) which calls for the investigation into missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 to be reopened.
Elsewhere in the region, Czech public broadcaster, Česká Televize, acquired a package of aerial travelogues from the distributor, including two seasons of "Aerial Profiles" (12x52), "Georgia From Above" (1x52), "South Africa From Above" (1x52) "UAE From Above" (1x52) and "Castles From Above" (4x52) from Zona Mixta.
Česká Televize also picked up titles across world affairs, history, and engineering, including Windfall Films’ "Building the Channel Tunnel" (1x60) and "Building the World’s Most Luxurious Ship" (1x60). History titles include Tony Robinson’s "VE Day: Minute by Minute" (1x60) from Woodcut Media, Academy-Award Winning Holocaust survivor doc, "The Lady in Number Six" (1x39) and "China’s Forgotten Emperor" (1x52) from True North Productions, which uses CGI, drone footage, and dramatic reconstructions to tell the thousand-year-old story of China’s only Empress.
In factual entertainment, the distributor closed deals with international media company Viasat World for the Viasat Explore channel for a number of fishing titles, including the latest season of "Monster Carp" (4x45) from Korda Developments and ITV and the second season of "The Grand Fishing Adventure" (4x45) fronted by angling icon Ali Hamidi and footballing legend, Bobby Zamora.