Press

2010
March:
Espresso is pleased to announce details of our newest acquisition Act of God (1 x 74') from award-winning director Jennifer Baichwal (Mercury/Foundry Lightning Films Inc). The captivating new work is an elegant cinematic meditation on the metaphysical effects of being struck by lightening, and explores profound questions via personal stories from around the world. If you're interested in learning more please get in touch.

March:

Our feature-length history title Charlotte: A Royal at War, has recently sold to Scandinavian broadcaster, Viasat History. The 90-miunte documentary from UK-based Grace Productions due to air across Europe this week, is the remarkable story of exiled grand duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, whose wartime friendship with President Roosevelt led to to become a 'propagandist for the Allies'. Filmed over 18 months, it combines vivid eye-witness testimony, with colour archive film, much of it never previously shown. As part of this deal, Viasat Pay Channel have also picked up our history titles Ritual: The Samurai of the Soma Noma-Oi and The Lancaster at War, which will air to the channels two million viewers over the coming months.


February:
February saw the 5th Brighton Documentary Festival, SEE come to town. Founded by Brighton-based production company Back2back, the weekend-long festival gave producers, directors, students and industry experts to come together for seminars and screenings. The acclaimed director Nick Broomfield ended the event with a masterclass on his career and work, and our MD David Hooper once again chaired the distribution panel 'Distribution in the Digital Age', which analysed the Producer-Distributor relationship, and gave the audience much food for thought. Here's to a successful 2011 festival!

January:
Espresso TV welcomes Annabel Laister to the team as our new Sales Executive. Annabel has previously worked as a Sales Exectutive at 10 Francs (Paris), and Zeal Entertainment (Digital Rights Group), and gained previous marketing experience at CIC and Metrotartan. A languages graduate, Annabel speaks Spanish, Greek and French and is responsible for our Spanish, American and Latin American territories.
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2009
August:
Sales - Espresso has sold a range of titles including recently completed The Lancaster at War (1 x 47' HD) from our esteemed producer/director Stephen Saunders, and our wildlife programme Snake Island (1 x 52' HD) to broadcasters in European and Australian territories....  Spain's Canal de Historia have picked up religious series Jerusalem: Between Heaven & Earth (3 x 52') and Karosta: Life After the USSR (1 x 50' HD).... In Australia, ABC have licensed six titles from our prestigious Ben Cropp Collection of nature and wildlife documentaries.... Elsewhere in Europe, French broadcaster Planéte, continued their interest in Espresso titles licensing The Lancaster at War (1 x 47' HD) and Battle of Britain (3 x 47').... Antipodeon sales include Dr Death, The Moors Murders and The Plane Facts to the Australian broadcaster Foxtel, and James Ravilious: A World in Photographs (1 x 26') to SBS (Special Broadcasting Service), also in Australia.

July:
Acquisitions - Espresso TV is pleased to announce the acquisition of three new series from Canadian producer Up Front Entertainment. Take This House and Sell It! (74 x 26') is a home improvement series featuring houses that have been on the market for too long as a designer from the series team of four tries to revolutionise the interior to ensure a quick and lucrative result.... Canadian supermum Tosca Reno is the star of Tosca: Flexing at 49 (8 x 24') a series which follows her as she juggles being a mother, successful author, public speaker and fitness model as she prepares for what could be her final body building competition.... The viewer is taken behind the scenes of the hottest parties in the world in Celebrity RSVP (13 x 26'). The show blends the sexy world of Hollywood celebrities with the reality of interpersonal relationships, personal challenges and individual triumphs. Espresso is delighted to be forming a partnership with an exciting international producer and looks forward to seeing new Up Front content.

July:
Ronnie Biggs Footage - Following the release from prison of Great Train Robber, Ronnie Biggs, Espresso TV would like to draw the attention of interested broadcasters and producers to exclusive footage Espresso produced of Biggs shot in Brazil in 1994. The footage comprises a sixty minute satellite interview at the time of his autobiography Odd Man Out. From a studio in Rio, Biggs was able to answer questions from a panel of international journalists led by GMTV’s Penny Smith in London via the satellite link. He discussed a range of subjects including his lifestyle in Brazil, the infamous kidnap attempt in 1981 and the future of the prison system in the UK. There is a further hour of footage of Biggs living in Rio, offering a more intimate insight into his personal life. Filmed at his home, also in 1994, it captures Ronnie reflecting candidly on his life, and includes various shots of his day-to-day life socialising with friends and family. Please email us for more information on the content.
March/April:
MIPDOC & MIPTV - We presented the following programmes this year at MIPDOC: Anna's Silent Struggle, Blown Apart, Celebrity RSVP, Challenge of the Red Dunes (part of the Go Africa series), Crocodile Island (part of the Ben Cropp Collection), Extreme Wipeouts, Fighting the Blue, Hunt for U-479, Karosta: Life After the USSR, The Lost World of Mr. Hardy, Take This House & Sell It!, The Tube and Hell on Hooves.

February:
At the SEE Festival in Brighton Espresso MD, David Hooper, chaired a panel on  the Producer/Distributor partnership entitled 'A Marriage Made in Heaven?' along with other distribution experts. The debate was lively as they offered different perspectives on the distribution process and how you can get the world to see your film and get paid.

January:
Latest Releases - Go Africa is a series of eight films on a variety of wildlife and nature topics from all over the great continent of Africa.... Blown Apart is a four part series  on a controversial energy project following the dramatic story of a community debating whether to build a new wind farm in the Devon countryside.... Karosta: Life After the USSR is a one hour film shot in HD exploring an abandoned military port in Western Latvia.

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2008
Round-Up News from '08 - David Hooper was at the World Congress of Science & Factual Producers in December, then in November  travelled to Amsterdam for IDFA. Earlier in the month David sat on the Distribution panel 'That Old Chestnut' at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival. He also met with a range of buyers and producers in Cannes at MIPCOM, then travelled on to SportelMonaco and the East Silver Market in Prague where David Hooper contributed to a panel on Sales & Distribution.

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