TVF takes factual to Italy

Basquiat: Rage to Riches has been picked up by Sky Arte

Italian public broadcaster Rai has picked up a slate of factual programming from independent UK distributor TVF International for its various channels.

Pronto Productions’ Grand Central Station (4×52’), which explores the architecture and meets the people behind the New York City rail terminal, will air on Rai Uno, having originally been commissioned by Fox Voyage.

Rai Uno has also picked up Channel News Asia’s Meet the Makers (1×48’), a documentary profiling the work of expert artisans preserving age-old crafts around the world.

Arte’s Isles of the Queen (10×43’), a 4K travelogue of the islands that make up the UK, and CICC-commissioned Secret China (6×50’) will also air on the flagship channel.

Elsewhere, Rai Tre has secured a 10-hour package of aerial travel titles, including Flying the Great Wall (1×52’), which is the first documentary to film the Great Wall of China in its entirety from above, and TVF and Tokyo Vision coproductions Vietnam From Above and Laos From Above (both 1×52’).

The channel has also picked up rights to Crux Production’s BBC commission George III: The Genius of a Mad King (1×59’), Smithsonian and Channel 4’s China’s Forgotten Emperor (1×52’) and PBS WW2 docu-drama Enemy of the Reich (1×60’).

Elsewhere in Italy, Sky Arte has licensed a package of arts titles from TVF, including Bafta winner Basquiat: Rage to Riches (1×52’); Ovation TV’s Conflict (1×52’), a look at the lives of conflict photographers around the world; and Gaudi’s Message (1×49’), originally commissioned by Japanese pubcaster NHK.