News round-up: Espresso unveils doc trio; Factual deals for Passion; Abacus to shop ‘Legacy List’

Coven

Espresso unveils doc trio

Espresso Media International has unveiled three new documentaries from its distribution slate launching at Hot Docs 2023.

Espresso are representing worldwide rights (excluding Canada) for the trio, which are all commissioned by Canada’s Documentary Channel.

Two of the docs are produced by Frequent Flyer, including The Man Who Stole Einstein’s Brain, which tells the story of what happened in 1955 when the pathologist performing the autopsy on Einstein covertly stole the genius’s brain, hoping to uncover the secret of his brilliance.

Cynara, meanwhile, tells the story of the titular 16-year-old whose mother, Cindy Ali, is the prime suspect in her murder.

Coven, from Storyline Entertainment, follows the journeys of three millennial women who explore what it means to identify as a witch in today’s world.

Dinosaur With Stephen Fry

Factual deals for Passion

A slew of broadcasters have picked up documentary and entertainment titles after striking deals with Passion Distribution.

Channel 5 in the UK has acquired Engineering Reborn (8 x 60-minutes) from Pioneer Productions, with further sales include Discovery (Spain), RTL (Netherlands), UR (Sweden), TVNZ (New Zealand) and SBS (Australia).

Dinosaur With Stephen Fry (4 x 60-minutes) has been picked up by RTL (Germany), FTV Prima (Czech Republic), Telefonica (Spain), SBS (Australia). The series was produced by Mentorn Media.

Entertainment series Men Of West Hollywood (10 x 60-minutes)  has been picked up by MTV3 (Finland), TV4 (Sweden), DPG (Belgium), Foxtel (Australia) and Videotron in French-speaking Canada. The series is produced by Get Me Out Productions.

Documentary Afghanistan: No Country For Women has been acquired by Channel 8 (Israel), YLE (Finland), TV2 (Norway), SVT (Sweden) and Telefonica (Spain).

Meanwhile, Elizabeth: A Life Through The Lens (1 x 60-minutes), from Unity House is headed to Channel 4 (UK), History Channel (Germany), Axess TV (Sweden) and True Royalty (USA).

Legacy List With Matt Paxton

Abacus to shop ‘Legacy List’

Abacus Media Rights has secured international distribution rights for Legacy List With Matt Paxton, produced by indie prodco My Entertainment and Shipyard Entertainment.

Abacus has worldwide rights (excluding Australia and Israel), with a second window in the US following the show’s broadcast on American Public Television.

Legacy List With Matt Paxton is about our homes, the hidden treasures, heirlooms and the precious memories attached to those items. The series captures the emotional trials and triumphs of families downsizing their own homes or settling the estates of family members, as Matt and his team of expert movers and conservators pack a houseful of memories.

Jonathan Ford, managing director at Abacus, said: “We are delighted to have acquired a significant number of hours of Legacy List. 

“It’s a very relatable and emotionally-charged factual entertainment series – so many of us have items that have too many memories to discard.  Matt and his experienced team bring to life treasures from a family’s past and moves them on to an uplifting future.”

Drag Race Universe launches on Freevee US

Blue Ant Media and World of Wonder have partnered to launch a Drag Race Universe FAST channel on Amazon Freevee in the US.

Drag Race Universe is a partnership between Blue Ant Media and World of Wonder that offers U.S. audiences international versions of the Drag Race series through free streaming.

The deal follows recently launched Blue Ant Media free-streaming channels on Freevee, including natural history channel, Love Nature, home renovation and real estate channel, Homeful and pet-focused channel, Love Pets.

Programming launch highlights on the Drag Race Universe channel include: Canada’s Drag Race, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs The World and Drag Race Philippines.

“We’re thrilled to be growing our channel line-up on Amazon Freevee,” said Jamie Schouela, president of global channels & media, Blue Ant Media. “Expanding the reach of Drag Race Universe builds on our partnership with World of Wonder and brings Freevee audiences this hit franchise to its engaged audiences.”