Ovation, WOWOW enjoy Rossellini’s Green Porno

US cable channel Ovation has acquired documentary Isabella Rossellini’s Green Porno Live!, which Japanese pay TV provider WOWOW has come on board to coproduce.

Arts-skewed network Ovation will run the doc, which comes from Sundance Productions, exclusively in the US in spring 2015.

WOWOW, meanwhile, has come on board as a coproduction partner. The paycaster has been very active in the international factual coproduction and pre-buying space in the past year, investing in docs such as Sonic Highways and Finding 1984.

Meanwhile, international sales firm Forward Entertainment has acquired distribution rights.

Isabella Rossellini’s Green Porno Live! follows renowned actor Rossellini as she prepares for and performs her comic one-women stage show, which carries the same name as the programme. The stage show was born out of 38 short films made about the sexual and mating habits of animals, insects and marine life.

Rossellini co-wrote Green Porno Live! with Jean-Claude Carriere. Ex-Discovery exec Laura Michalchyshyn, who has run Sundance Productions for two years, is executive producer, Joan Shapiro directs, with Rick Gilbert and Sundance Productions’ Molly O’Keefe producing.

“We are nearing the 10 year anniversary of the Green Porno shorts and now is the perfect time to take viewers on the incredible journey with this portrait of an artist,” said Michalchyshyn.

The Green Porno shorts have been airing on Sundance Productions stablemate SundanceTV since 2008.