Mercury Announce Fresh Slate and New Sales Ahead of MipTV

MercuryMedia International is pleased to announce its fresh slate of films and new sales ahead of MIPTV.

Set to launch in Cannes are: Kissinger, a profile of the famed political advisor by Niall Ferguson; One Thousand Pictures: RFK’s Last Journey, a Lichen Films production for HBO and Channel 4; The 4th Revolution, Germany’s biggest theatrical doc in 2010; and Bhopali, Slamdance 2011’s top feted doc about the world’s worst industrial disaster.

Other titles include: Lesson Plan, about The Third Wave social experiment in 1960’s California; The Crisis of Civilization, based on the book by international security analyst Dr. Nafeez Mosaddeq; Eat The Sun, a fascinating journey into the world of sungazing, Finding Fidel, a brilliant treatise on the idea of myth creation; and Who Killed Chea Vichea?, an festival winning film investigating the murder of a Cambodian labour leader.

Mercury will also be bringing 9/11 docs to MIP for broadcasters to mark the 10th anniversary of the tragedy. Fordson examines the effects that 9/11 had on the Arab-American community in Dearborn, Michigan - home to the largest concentration of Arabs in any city outside of the Middle East. The film won the Special Jury Prize at Slamdance 2011.

Two other titles, Loose Change 9/11 and Zero: An Investigation into 9/11, offer detailed examination into the attacks which throw doubt on the veracity of the official reports.

Recent sales have opened up a strong start for 2011 ahead of MIPTV.

ABC Australia and Turner Networks Latin America have struck deals to acquire The Invention of Dr. NakaMats, the worldwide hit which has now sold to 25 territories. The single doc follows the eccentric Dr. Nakamats, a famous Japanese inventor with more than 3,400 patents.

In Latin America, FOX has picked up Michelangelo Revealed, The Daniel Project, and The Scottish Key. Meanwhile, Turner TBS have acquired American Radical, a film about controversial American academic Norman Finklestein.

Link TV USA has acquired rights to The Billionaires Tea Party, the investigative doc about the political movement in the United States. Tea Party has also been sold to SRF in Switzerland.

Public television network France 5 has picked up Apaporis, an anthropology doc that retraces the 1942 Amazon journey of famed botanist Richard Schultes. Elsewhere in France, The Scottish Key has been sold to Planete.

In Scandinavia, a deal has been penned with Norway’s TV Norge for Sons of Perdition, a BBC Storyville film about fundamentalist Mormons.

Swedish pubcaster SVT has acquired Vlast (Power), which traces the rise and fall of imprisoned Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. LTV Latvia has also picked up Vlast along with Scientists Under Attack and NakaMats.

Finally, Inflight Productions have acquired light-hearted docs The Parking Lot Movie and NakaMats.

Tim Sparke Chief Executive commented: “Mercury’s board set aggressive sales targets for 2011, around a re-organisation of personnel. Our 1st quarter income has exceeded those targets. Mercury’s roster of producers, our client broadcasters, and our shareholders are reaping the benefits of the re-organisation.”

Read more: Real Screen