André’s Masterclass
Last week André appeared at DOCVILLE in Belgium to hold a masterclass and for them to screen three of his films.
"Andre Singer is a monument in the world of documentaries. After his doctorate in anthropology, he started making non-fiction in the 1970s. He produced over 55 documentary films and series, including many award-winning titles and collaborations with well-known names.
He produced Joshua Oppenheimer's Oscar-nominated documentary The Act of Killing (2014) and the worldwide TV series Stephen Fry in America. But his main brother-in-arms is Werner Herzog, for whom he has been producing films for a quarter of a century. In 2014, Singer took place in the director's chair for the memorable WWII documentary Night Will Fall. His last achievement is another collaboration with Herzog, this time as co-director of Meeting Gorbachev. The perfect occasion for DOCVILLE to put the spotlight on him as Artist in Focus.
China
Our MD Richard Melman, has just returned from Beijing where he was attending and speaking at the China International Documentary Forum held at CCTV's headquarters.
2019 BAFTAS
Paddy Wivell and Spring Films have been nominated for two BAFTA Television Awards - Best Director and Best Factual Series for PRISON. We are all proud and thoroughly delighted that this series is getting such terrific recognition. Thank you again, Paddy, Jack, Chris, Josh, and Pat.
We’ve only gone and done it again!
Spring Films is very proud to have to won the 2019 ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY AWARD for Best Documentary Series for PRISON. A huge thanks to the team and C4 for their support.
Royal Television Society Nomination
Spring is proud to announce that Spring Film has been nominated for a Royal Television Society 2019 Award for our 'Prison' series.
Congratulations to Kathy, Richard, Pat, Paddy and the team.
The awards are on the 19th.
https://rts.org.uk/award/rts-programme-awards-2019-partnership-audio-network
BROADCAST AWARDS 2019 WINNER – PRISON
We Won....
Congratulations and thanks to Paddy and the team for an amazing series.
“It made use of incredible access to tell a funny and yet shocking story”
Spring Films for Channel 4
This extraordinary ob-doc opened the nation’s eyes to life in a northern prison by applying a heartwarming and humorous touch to what was an often depressing tale.
Gripping almost 3 million consolidated viewers each episode, the judges were wowed by the “fresh voice in documentary storytelling” provided by director Paddy Wivell, who spent months getting to know the inmates of Durham prison.
“Beautifully shot,” said one judge. “It made use of incredible access to tell a funny and yet shocking story.”
After a five-year moratorium on allowing TV cameras into prisons, this anti-shock-doc aimed to counter previous depictions that showed only the worst elements of a struggling system. This approach provided an “extraordinary insight into real life behind bars”, according to another judge.
Wivell and his team met with the prison’s governor and the Ministry of Justice extensively before heading inside. They didn’t pick up a camera for the first two weeks, instead choosing to get to know the inmates and staff, while being trained in self-protection measures.
At one point, the crew had to be pulled out after being accused by the prisoners of ‘grassing them up’ to the authorities. Wivell’s return, when he confronts one of the ringleaders, was one of the most memorable moments of the series.
Night Will Fall on Catchup
Prison Series Two Commissioned
We're delighted to announce that Channel 4 has commissioned a new series of Prison.
Filmmaker Paddy Wivell is going back behind bars for a second series of critically acclaimed Prison – the first series was Channel 4’s highest rating new factual commission of 2018. The new series will focus on female inmates and explore the human stories on both sides of the door: staff and prisoners. (Prod co – Spring Films)
Meeting Gorbachev Opens the Trieste Film Festival
Stasera che fate? C’è l’inaugurazione del Trieste Film Festival @ilRossetti ore 20 MEETING GORBACHEV di W.Herzog e A.Singer che lo presenterà in sala e porterà una sorpresa a tutti gli spettatori. Vi aspettiamo! #TSFF30
Prison secures European sales
BROADCAST:
Five countries pick up Spring Films’ three-part documentary series
Prison: Spring Films made the three-part Channel 4 doc series
Channel 4’s behind-bars doc Prison has been sold into five European territories.
Germany’s Welt (fka N24), Norway’s TV2, Belgium’s VRT, the Netherlands’ RTL and Denmark’s TV2 have all acquired the Paddy Wivell-directed three-parter, which comes from London-based Spring Films.
The delayed final part of the three-part series aired on C4 on Monday 14 January to 1.4m, giving a series average of 1.5m. The 75-minute special rated well with 25-34-year-olds, who comprised 23% of the audience versus the usual 14%.
Spring Films secured access to the inmates and staff at Durham HMP over several months, highlighting the daily toil and mental health damage, substance abuse and violence common to the institution.
Canada-based Blue Ant International, whose stablemates include Jago Lee’s Antenna Pictures, closed the deals with the European buyers, having first launched the doc series at Mipcom last year.
https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/international/c4s-prisons-secures-european-sales/5136007.article
Read All About it…
To discover how Netflix is shaking the world and read the pearls of wisdom from our MD have a look at...
https://tbivision.com/2019/01/21/how-netflix-has-shaken-up-the-documentary-world/
Dogwoof sinks teeth into ‘Meeting Gorbachev’
Werner Herzog and Andre Singer’s Meeting Gorbachev has been picked up by London-based sales agent Dogwoof ahead of next month’s European Film Market in Berlin.
Dogwoof has also taken international rights outside of the UK and Italy to Meeting Gorbachev. HISTORY Films has signed a separate, unannounced deal with another distributor for those territories.
Herzog and Singer’s film sees Herzog interview the former general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to get an insight into his life and career.
Meeting Gorbachev's world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival last year, The Orchard has North American rights. HISTORY Films has TV rights.