united docs Wraps Up MIPCOM Deals

COLOGNE/CANNES: united docs, part of German United Distributors, scored a range of sales internationally at MIPCOM, including selling comprehensive history packages to France, Austria, Sweden, Italy, Spain and the Middle East.

Documentaries sold include 100 Years of Hollywood: The Carl Laemmle Story, which charts the origins of the American film industry and honors the German founder of Universal Studios. The science documentary Back to the Roots: Learning from the Stone Age, which provides an insight into evolutionary medicine, was also sold.

Canada, Switzerland, Belgium and France secured rights for the documentary Gas Flaring: Eco-Vandalism by the Oil Companies, and Brick by Brick: The Making of the Iron Curtain, a doc on the history of the construction of the Berlin Wall, went to National Geographic. Numerous international program buyers were interested in the new HD travel series Round the World: Travel at its Best, a 73-episode hour-long series.

“Our balanced mix of programs comprising historical and the increasingly topical scientific and ecological subjects went down well in Cannes,” said Anne Hufnagel, the head of united docs Cologne. “What makes our documentaries so successful around the globe is not just the excellent writers, camera crew, directors and producers, but most especially the sophisticated narrative style which uses a wealth of film techniques. The journalistic, and often investigative, approach to both the subject and its background constantly gives TV viewers new angles and previously unknown context.”