ORF Brings More Than 70 New Titles to Cannes

VIENNA, October 12: A range of new mini-series and TV
movies, as well as documentaries from the Universum strand, are on offer from the
Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF).

Among the mini-series from ORF is the 3×50-minute Nature
Tech: How Engineers are Inspired by Nature’s Designs. In children’s fare, the Austrian outfit is offering up the science
show Explorer Express and Totally
Fit, a health and fitness program for kids,
as well as the new puppet series Pig-Perfect.

New TV movies include Bear on the Run!, an
ironic comedy inspired by actual events of a wild young bear on the loose. The
First Day is a disaster drama dealing with
the threat of a radioactive leak in a nearby nuclear power plant. The
Tree of Salvation is the latest installment
in the Scene of the Crime series.

The new series Fast Forward, from MR Film, has just been finished, with all ten episodes to be
available at the end of this year. The show features a female inspector handling
the balancing act between her job and parental duties. Ex: A Romantic
Comedy follows a man and his best friends
as he tries to figure out the mystery of women and relationships.

Docs on offer include Extreme: From Freezer to Furnace, which deals with the phenomena of extreme climate
conditions; Fronteira Brazil: The Struggle for Land in Mato Grosso, spotlighting the rainforests of Brazil; The
Science of Light, discussing sustainable
development in the field of light studies; and Let It Snow, exploring the mystery and myth behind snow. O2:
The Journey of a Molecule through Space and Time uses CGI combined with live-action reconstructions to follow the
journey of a molecule of oxygen.

“Environmental issues, or the so called ‘green docs’ are
among the most sought-after films at present,” said Beatrice Riesenfelder,
ORF’s head of sales and acquisitions. “Universum documentaries such as From
Freezer to Furnace and Let It
Snow focus on the scientific aspect of the
climate change and its effect on nature and wildlife, whereas other productions
by ORF deal with the economic and agricultural consequences of the human’s
influence on nature. As usual, ORF produces for a broad audience
range—for adults and children, prime-time audience as well as special
target groups.”

—By Kristin Brzoznowski