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Swedish deal for pitch prize winner

MIPDOC: Swedish pubcaster SVT has confirmed it is coming onboard a Belgian feature documentary about a whistleblower at a Swiss bank.

A Leak in Paradise is currently in production and its producers are looking for the final 25% of its funding ahead of a January 2015 release. It scooped the top prize at the annual MipDoc International Pitch competition in Cannes on Saturday, after being presented by manager of prodco Ventes-CBAWIP-Sales, Thierry Detaille.

The jury included Axel Arno, commissioning editor for Swedish pubcaster SVT, and Ann Julienne, head of international development for documentaries at France Télévisions. Arno confirmed at the session he would be pre-buying the film.

It focuses on the story of Rudolf Elmer, who defied bank secrecy and security to shine a light on the secrets of the Cayman Islands-based Julius Baer Bank, which was focused more on tax evasion than legitimate practices.

The case was originally one of the first highlighted by Julian Assange’s Wikileaks website and resulted in Elmer being charged with breaching Swiss bank secrecy laws – his trial is currently in progress.

The doc beat competition from four other films to take the prize from a panel of commissioning editors at MipDoc in Cannes on Saturday. RTBF and VRT Lichtpunt in Belgium are coproduction partners along with DR in Denmark.

Transmedia project A Journey to Icaria by France’s Je Suis Bien Content, and Invisible Mothers from Spain’s 3BoxMedia, which focuses on the plight of Moroccan women having children outside of marriage, were also on the shortlist.

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