cineflix productions

Cineflix goes global with popular science series Mayday. Germany's Prosieben latest channel to acquire the show

June 02, 2003

Montreal, June 2, 2003 - “The Cineflix series Mayday: Air Disaster has been sold to Prosieben, one of the largest German commercial broadcasters,” announced Cineflix Vice-President/Executive Producer André Barro today. “Mayday, six one-hours of investigative popular science, represents a new frontier of factual programming for Cineflix. Prosieben has very high standards and we’re proud to be delivering the series to them. This deal is a perfect example of the synergy between Cineflix Montreal and our distribution arm in the UK, Cineflix International,” says Barro.

At the recent MipTV 2003, Mayday: Air Disaster was also sold to TVNZ in New Zealand, the Seven Network in Australia and the Holland Media Groep. Prior to that the series was pre-sold to UK broadcaster Five; to France 5; and to Discovery and Canal D in Canada.

Mayday: Air Disaster investigates recent high-profile air disasters to uncover how and why they happened. Mayday takes viewers on board six different flights in trouble, recreating the tension and the pressure in the cockpit and cabin. The expertly crafted dramatic reenactments are based on transcripts from recovered flight data recorders. News footage; interviews with pilots, analysts and key witnesses; and computer graphics of the planes in flight all shed light on the safety issues at the heart of aviation industry controversies.

Mayday flights include United Airlines Flight 811 near Honolulu, where a 747 cargo door blew off creating a fatal hole in the fuselage; the recent Air Transat emergency landing in the Azores; and American Airlines Flight 1420 which ploughed off the runway when it landed in a thunderstorm in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Budgeted at $3 million CDN the series is still shooting interviews on location internationally and reenactments in studio in Toronto. A Canada-France-UK co-production produced by Cineflix, Galaxie Presse in France and Media Production Services in the U.K., Mayday: Air Disaster is to air in Fall 2003.

André Barro is the Cineflix executive producer for Mayday: Air Disaster, Bernard Vaillot is executive producer for Galaxie Presse. The series producer is Bryn Higgins. The directors are Bryn Higgins, Leo Singer, Gary Lang, Greg Lanning and Bernard Vaillot. Mayday: Air Disaster is produced by Cineflix in association with Discovery Canada and Canal D in Canada; Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited in the UK; France 5 and Galaxie Presse Productions in France. Produced with the participation of the Government of Canada film or video production tax credit program; and the Quebec Film and Television tax credit administered by SODEC.

Cineflix, a leading producer and distributor of popular non-fiction programming with offices in Montreal, Toronto and London, U.K., produces over 40 hours a year of factual entertainment with strong international appeal.