UFA launches doc unit, names CEOs

Gwendolin Szyszkowitz-Schwingel and Marc Lepetit

Fremantle-owned German production company UFA has launched a new documentary unit to oversee the expansion of its factual formats line-up.

UFA Documentary will work alongside UFA Fiction, UFA Serial Drama and UFA Show & Factual as a standalone production company under the UFA umbrella and place its focus on documentaries, hybrid docs and serialised features.

UFA Fiction producer Marc Lepetit and Gwendolin Szyszkowitz-Schwingel will helm UFA Documentary as co-CEOs.

Szyszkowitz-Schwingel headed the Berlin office of the ZDFtheaterkanal before founding her own companies, which produce documentaries and image film campaigns for clients including Bertelsmann, Mercedes-Benz and Postbank.

Lepetit joined UFA Fiction as a producer in 2013 and has also worked as a producer at Phoenix Film Berlin, where he was responsible for series, features films, business development and new media.

Nico Hofmann, CEO of UFA, said: “Broadcasters and platforms around the world are increasingly demanding non-fiction content and new formats, such as docu-fiction and serial formats. Now is the time to expand this growing field. The new, independent unit will be an important player for documentary content.”