Women in Flight Spotlighted in New Docuseries

TORONTO: AeroCinema and Aerostar TV are co-producing the documentary series Women and Wings (working title), which offers a historical and contemporary look at aviation.

The six-part docuseries marks the first in a series of co-productions between the Canadian and French companies, which recently inked a production and distribution agreement. Some of the 46-minute documentaries will cover the rivalry and friendship between Jacqueline Cochrane of the U.S. and Jacqueline Auriol of France in their battle to break world speed records, while other episodes will focus on French women combat helicopter pilots during the Indochina war. The docuseries will also highlight the legendary American WASPS of WWII and the dogfights between German pilots and the fabled Russian “Witches of the Night.” The series will also look at contemporary female aerobatics champions, Concord pilots and astronauts.

Canada’s AeroCinema and France’s Aerostar TV recently entered into a 250-title output deal and ongoing annual co-production agreement, the largest in the aviation documentary genre. The deal also includes reciprocal branded blocks on both companies’ distribution footprints.

“We are proud to have this important project mark the first in an ongoing series of co-productions under our new AeroCinema and Aerostar TV alliance,” said Bernard Chabbert, the chairman and CEO of Aerostar TV. “The ratings successes of our individual productions over the last three decades underscores the continuing international appetite for flight and aerospace content.”

“By combining their substantial HD catalogs and adding the significant onward production capabilities of the two companies, this agreement will ensure both a solid base and a very substantial flow of brand-new content for future growth,” said Paul Russell, the VP of marketing at AeroCinema.

Paris-based Aerostar TV is distributed on France’s three major telephony services, Orange, Free and Bouyigues, reaching more than 16 million users in France. AeroCinema, meanwhile, is a Canada-based VOD aviation channel offering more than 150 hours of original HD documentaries.