MIPTV once again proves an important platform for RAI Com, the Italian public broadcaster’s division for trading in content rights. Together with a number of deals already initiated inlast week’s Screenings in Matera (Southern Italy), the total volume of sales finalized in Cannes exceeds EUR 1.6 million.
Bestsellers include the series Detective Montalbano (Lumiere for Benelux and SVT for Sweden, Cszeska Televize for the Czech Republic) and its spin-off The Young Montalbano in both the 1. and the new 2. Season that continue to set sales records and were newly acquired for the UK by the BBC and in North America by MHZ. For Germany, the TV rights of The Young Montalbano 2 were sold to PRO7/Sat 1 and the home video rights to Edel.
Broadcaster arte has acquired the new series Non uccidere (Close Murders) starring Miriam Leone for France and Germany. Strong interest was registered for Close Murders in North America and in Australia, as well as in Spain and Bulgaria.
Marco Tullio Giordana’s Lea – Se ti diranno di me (Lea – Something About Me), the real-life story of Mafia-witness Lea Garofalo originally produced as a TV movie, will see an interesting theatrical distribution in Australia (Palace) France (Panam Distribution).
The System (TV series, 12 x 50’) narrates police chief Bonfanti’s investigation into a suspicious restaurant with an extraordinary turnover. But there is more here than meets the eye, and Bonfanti is sucked into contemporary Rome’s seedy underbelly. Strong interest was shown in France and Switzerland. Other crime content also fared extremely well, including episodes of Inspector Coliandro.
But it is not only crime content that did well at MIPTV: Rights to the mini series Luisa Spagnoli (mini series, 2 x 100’) about the mythical Italian designer, hugely successful in Italy with an audience of more than 8 million viewers on Rai 1 saw promising negotiations in Western and Eastern Europe as well as in Asia, North America and Latin America.
Another costume drama, The Lady’s Paradise obtained similar results. The drama (10 x 100’) is set in the 1950s economic miracle and tells the story of an eponymous revolutionary store in Milan where beauty and luxury are within everyone’s grasp. The Lady’s Paradise will be seen in the Philippines through ABC CBN and has gained significant interest from Germany, Spain, Eastern Europe, Japan, Vietnam and China.
Marco Pontecorvo’s Lampedusa (mini series, 2 x 100’), a dramatization of the people dealing with the enormous implications of the ongoing refugee crisis on the tiny island between North Africa and Sicily that will air soon on RAI 1, sold well in a number of countries around the Mediterranean basin and the UK (Infinity) and CYBC (Cipro).
Regarding documentary content, another strength of RAI Com’s slate, Gianni Minà’s Pope Francis, Cuba and Fidel: a historic visit, an investigation into the Argentinian Pope’s deeply meaningful decision to visit the island nation in the hopes of fostering stability in a world out of balance, deals for North America, Spain, Latin America and Poland are under negotiation.