Off the Fence to reveal Secret of Hitler’s Elite in Cannes as part of history line-up

Black Waters: The Sea Empress Disaster examines the 1996 oil spill

Amsterdam-based factual distributor Off the Fence (OTF) is taking three new history programmes to Mipcom, led by WildBear Entertainment’s Secret of Hitler’s Elite.

The 4×60’ docuseries explores the lives and minds of some of the most powerful figures in Adolf Hitler’s Germany, including Joseph Goebbels, Erwin Rommel, Heinz Guderian, Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler.

Drawing on personal correspondence, diaries and other written sources, including recently translated letters, the series analyses the men behind Nazi Germany’s military and political machine, examining their thoughts, fears, ambitions and private lives alongside their roles in the Second World War.

International pay TV broadcaster Viasat World has already acquired the series.

Joining the series OTF’s Mipcom history slate is I Shot the President (1×52’/1×90’), produced, written and directed by Neil McGregor. The documentary examines the 1981 assassination attempt on US president Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley Jr, whose attack was driven by his dangerous obsession with Martin Scorsese’s psychological thriller Taxi Driver and actress Jodie Foster.

The Mystery of the Jaguar People follows an expedition into the Colombian Amazon

The third history show is The Mystery of the Jaguar People (1×52’), coproduced for Arte by Wanted Media Productions and Cutting Edge Productions. The film follows a scientific expedition led by National Geographic Explorer Francesco Sauro and Colombian anthropologist Carlos Castaño-Uribe into one of the most remote regions of the Colombian Amazon, home to the mysterious and uncontacted ‘Jaguar People.’

In related news, OTF has struck a series of sales deals in the run-up to Mipcom, including with ORF in Austria, TV3 Spain and Canal+ in France for Forgotten Heroes of the American Revolution (2×60’). Produced by GMarsh TV, the series looks beyond George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to the largely forgotten men and women who also helped secure American independence.

TV3 and Canal+ have also acquired Black Waters: The Sea Empress Disaster (1×60’), produced by Afanti Media. The doc revisits the 1996 Sea Empress oil spill, when 72,000 tonnes of crude oil were released off the Welsh coast, causing one of the UK’s worst environmental catastrophes.