Arte buys Alex Gibney’s Catholic Church exposé

Arte has acquired Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, the Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) directed film about abuses of power in the Catholic church.

The film is produced by Jigsaw, a joint venture between filmmaker Gibney and distributor Content Media, with HBO, Wider Film Projects and Below the Radar Films as copro partners.

Content sells the film internationally and cut the Arte deal. The Franco-German arts and culture channel has taken pay TV rights for France and Germany.

Other broadcasters that have picked up the film to date include CBC in Canada, DR in Denmark, Globosat in Brazil, HBO in the Netherlands and Poland, Netflix and the BBC in the UK and YLE in Finland.

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God launched theatrically in September 2012 and last week picked up five Emmy nominations.

“The strong global demand for Mea Maxima Culpa and its recognition from Emmy voters validates why this very important story needed to be told,” Gibney said. “I am delighted to have produced the film with HBO Documentary Films and to see Content’s remarkable success selling it.”