In our double weekend feature, Audrey Stuart reports that factual shows have become the second most purchased TV genre at the television trade shows.

   Ever since US film-maker Michael Moore's provocative documentaries proved box-office hits at the cinema, TV docs too have been on a roll, with broadcasters this year opting for programmes from climate change to China ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
   "Since Moore's success, it's been the golden years for documentaries,"
Leena Pasanen, who heads up Denmark's European Documentary Network, told AFP.
"They've found new audiences."
   The growing global taste for programmes that roll out reality is currently
so high that factual shows have become the second most purchased TV genre at
the twice-yearly television trade shows organised by Reed MIDEM -- MIPTV and
MIPCOM.
   "Documentaries continue to be hot," Paul Johnson, director of the trade
show's television division, told AFP. This year's MIPDOC documentaries section
of the huge trade event "has been the largest ever on record," he added.
   With over 900 new documentaries up for grabs at this week's MIPDOC, there
should be no shortage on TV screens in the coming months.
   One reason for their new popularity is the emotional impact, film-makers
here said.



   "The emotional power and searing residue of certain key scenes stay in
people's minds in a way that the printed word can't do," said Alex Gibney, who
this year won an Oscar for "Taxi To The Dark Side" about US torture in
Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, and was nominated for one in 2006 for
"Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room'.
   TV buyers this week showed particular interest for green docs, such as
National Geographic's "Six Degrees Could Change The World" and a France
Television docu-drama "Changing Climates", that looks forward to 2075 when
global warming has seriously affected the everyday lives of our grandchildren.
   And with the Olympic Torch on its way from Athens to Beijing, there was a
huge surge in China-themed docs on everything from architecture to history to
food, as well as the country's contemporary lifestyle and its people's love
lives.
   Poland produced a documentary called "The Great Escape" about Chinese who
managed to escape from the country's Communist regime while Asian neighbour
Singapore threw out a huge slate of programmes about China and Asia.
   Among these is a three-part high-definition documentary about Beijing's
history from the time of its nomadic beginnings to its iconic dynasties that
is a collaboration between Singapore's The Right Angle, Beijing TV and the BBC
Global Channels.
   "The market's warm response to our programmes is truly encouraging," CEO of
the Singapore government's Media Development Authority (MDA), Christopher
Chia, told AFP.

AFP

Read: Coming up on TV: kids and family-centred game shows

expatica April 2008