Sunny Side of the Doc, the three-day content fair for documentary films, offered an exclusive look at international co-productions, as ORF-Enterprise showcased its history line-up, with a thematic connection to the Pride Month.

La Rochelle/Vienna - Once again around 2,200 participants, representing 900 companies from more than 60 countries, attended the meeting point for documentaries on the Atlantic coast in France. This year, on the occasion of the strand’s 10^th anniversary, ORF-Enterprise shined the spotlight on brand new UNIVERSUM History titles. In addition to history films that reach further back into the past, guests from the industry were presented an exclusive first preview of “Pride and Persecution”, by filmmaker Fritz Kalteis, which addresses the struggles of queer movements during the 20^th century in Central Europe in a two part documentary, which will become available later this year.

“This year we are celebrating the 10^th anniversary of ORF-‘Universum History’. Its high-quality documentaries seamlessly follow the success of ORF-‘Universum’ blue-chip nature line-up. We are thrilled to showcase our latest titles at Sunny Side 2023, offering exclusive insights into captivating stories from different eras,” emphasizes ORF-Enterprise CEO Oliver Böhm in the run-up to Sunny Side of the Doc.

UNIVERSUM History Celebrates 10^th Anniversary with exclusive Showcase

To commemorate a decade of successful journeys into the past, ORF-Enterprise hosted an exclusive showcase and lunch on Wednesday, June 21 at Sunny Side of the Doc 2023.

The two-parter “Age of Queens” (ORF, ZDF/ARTE) takes the viewer back to England’s Elizabethan era. The eponymous queen Elizabeth I., played by Marie-Christine Friedrich, shares an intimate yet historically accurate account of the lives of her rivals “Bloody” Mary Tudor and Mary Stuart. In “Clash of the Crown Princes” (ORF, ZDF/ARTE) two princes with interlinked fates grapple with the burden of preserving a crumbling empire. The worldviews and methods of Rudolf of Austria and Wilhelm of Prussia were drastically different, but only one path led to victory, as the other led to tragedy.

On the occasion of Pride Month, the audience in La Rochelle was also presented exclusive insights into the two-parter “Pride and Persecution” (ORF, ZDF/ARTE), which travels back 100 years in time to explore the rise and fall of the gay and lesbian movements in Central Europe.

“This project is a chance to shed light on the roots of Europe's modern queer movement and their struggle for acceptance and equality. The 20^th century saw both remarkable progress and devastating setbacks when it came to LGBTQIA+ rights. We wanted to honor the courage and resilience of those who fought for their rights, as well as to raise awareness on the hate and bigotry that still persists to this day. The biographies featured in this project are unique, but their struggle is exemplary for so many others throughout the whole world,” adds Alexandra Wieser, producer of Pride and Persecution.

The recent sales line up also includes “The Birth of Modern Brazil – Leopoldina of Habsburg”, “The Builders of the Alhambra”, “Venus of Willendorf – The Naked Truth”, “1278 – The Battle for Europe” and “Augustus and Livia – Empire of Blood”.

About ORF-Enterprise

As a marketing subsidiary of ORF, ORF-Enterprise is exclusively responsible for marketing the leading Austrian media group’s entire national media output. The portfolio includes four television stations (ORF 1, ORF 2, ORF III Kultur und Information, ORF SPORT +), three national radio stations (Ö1, Hitradio Ö3, radio FM4), the print magazine ORF nachlese, the entire digital output on ORF.at, ORF-TVthek as well as ORF TELETEXT. The Content Sales International and Licensing and Media Cooperations division licences ORF content and brands worldwide. ORF-Enterprise operates its own music publishing house ORF-Enterprise Musikverlag as well as its own record label. The company is the national representative of leading international creative festivals such as Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and organiser of national advertising prizes such as ORF-TOP SPOT, ORF-WERBEHAHN and ORF-ONWARD. The management consists of Oliver Böhm (CEO, advertising marketing, content exploitation) and Heinz Mosser (finance and administration, music publishing & label, sound & vision, ORF nachlese). ORF-Enterprise is a 100 percent subsidiary of the ORF media group. More information at https://enterprise.ORF.at, https://contentsales.ORF.at and https://musikverlag.ORF.at

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