Bavaria Fiction Launches Documentary Brand

Bavaria Fiction’s documentary unit, originally founded in March 2022, has launched its own label, Icon Docs.

In addition to working on in-house and commissioned productions, Icon Docs plans to increase its participation in national and international co-productions. Current projects include Car Park Murder—Who Killed Charlotte Böhringer? for Sky and Ultra-Orthodox: Rabbi Akiva’s Journey to Freedom for ZDF and 3sat.

Projects in development at Icon Docs include Hitler in Hollywood (w.t.), examining the complex relationship between Hollywood and Nazi Germany in the 1930s, and The Park—New York’s Revolutionary Heart (w.t.), examining New York City’s Washington Square Park as a place of change and resistance and an arena in the fight for freedom and equality.

Icon Docs is led by Emanuel Rotstein, head of documentaries. Until 2021, Rotstein was senior director of programming at A+E Networks Germany for the linear and nonlinear pay-TV channels The History Channel and Crime + Investigation.

“In recent years, the demand for factual programming has increased worldwide,” said Marcus Ammon, managing director of content at Bavaria Fiction. “We have therefore established Icon Docs as an independent label in the German and international market, with our documentary team centered around the renowned leadership of Emanuel Rotstein.”

“Icon Docs stands for state-of-the-art projects with a distinctive high production and news value,” Rotstein said. “We want to move people, shake them up and build bridges between cultures. With a clear focus on current, political and investigative topics, biographies and contemporary history, we create sophisticated content that deserves the attention of a broad, global audience.”