united docs wins with documentaries about football and the environment
Cologne/Munich, 9 December 2009 – The 2010 World Cup and the current UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen were both the subject of documentary films at this year’s German Screenings conference. International buyers of television programming were extremely interested in documentaries about South Africa and the 2010 World Cup. united docs found many takers for its approximately 18 hours of programming about South Africa and soccer. The environmental documentaries distributed worldwide by the Cologne-based company were also highly successful. A six-hour package of ecological programming was sold to France, including the 2009 MIPCOM highlights “Plug ‘n’ Drive” (52’), a fascinating feature about electric cars, and “Mission Possible” (45’), a presentation of two visionary personalities and their ideas about the daily routine of recycling. Ireland, the Czech Republic and Bosnia secured the rights to a film about a scientific expedition to the radioactive paradise of Bikini Atoll, “The Ghost Fleet of Bikini Atoll” (52’). Licenses were awarded to Spain, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Italy (South Tyrol) for “Why We Buy” (42’/52’) and to Poland and the Czech Republic for the ecological thriller “Salmonopoly” (52’). Both of these last two films were shown for the first time at the 2009 German Screenings. France, Ireland, the Czech Republic and Bosnia-Herzegovina booked “The Picture of the Napalm Girl” (52’), the moving story of Kim Phuc, who was photographed at the age of nine running for her life from a napalm raid in Vietnam. In addition, united docs sold several travelogue packages with new episodes of the successful TV series “MareTV,” “Journeys around the World” and “People-Places-Adventures” to Spain (16 hours), Switzerland (7 hours) and France (5 hours).
“We are proud that our shows are helping focus people’s attention on important topics with international relevance. At this year’s German Screenings we were particularly successful in marketing to broadcasters around the world our ecological features, which uncover previously unknown aspects and reveal new correlations,” said Silke Spahr, managing director of united docs, following the TV distribution trade fair.
