Award-winning documentaries on development to be distributed across Asia Pacific

Some of the world’s best documentary films on development will become available in the Asia Pacific region through a new partnership that TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP) has recently finalised.

Television broadcasters, educational institutions and civil society groups in the Asia Pacific will be able to access the many productions made by the Geneva-based, globally operating film-maker, dev.tv.

These productions will be made available by TVEAP with no license fee for users based in low and middle income countries.

dev.tv is a non-profit association founded by media professionals. Its goal is to promote the production and distribution of television coverage of issues related to human, economic and environmental crises. It aims to draw public attention to the problems of our times, and highlight efforts to find solutions.

Since 2002, dev.tv has either produced or co-produced several dozen documentary films in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America. These cover a broad range of development issues and topics, and many have won awards for excellence at leading film festivals and competitions.

Among its recent productions is the highly acclaimed Doctors on the Frontline series, which went to the hot spots of conflict with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Filmed in Haiti, Somalia, Hondurasand Sudan, this series provided unique insights as MSF personnel struggle to provide assistance where there are no other medical facilities.

Another documentary, Nations Zero, travelled to four countries affected by civil conflicts -- Bosnia-Herzegovina, Colombia, Rwanda, and Afghanistan – to probe the socio-economic roots for violence and war within societies.

These and other dev.tv productions will become available to the world’s largest television audience in Asia through the new partnership with TVEAP.

“We are delighted to be able to distribute dev.tv’s films in our region,” says Nalaka Gunawardene, Director and CEO of TVE Asia Pacific. “We have known them for sometime as producers of outstanding films on issues that really matter to the developing world. Through this partnership, we enrich our film catalog and extend the films’ outreach to the world’s largest TV audience now in the Asia Pacific.”

“The spectacular growth of the Asia Pacific region makes it currently one of the main movers of development in the world,” says Bernard Robert-Charrue, General Manager, dev.tv. “Therefore, it is particularly important for a producer to be present in the media of that continent. Thanks to its partnership with TVEAP, dev.tv wishes to expand distribution of its productions so that they can be broadcast worldwide.”

Like TVE Asia Pacific, dev.tv firmly remains a journalistic organisation, with all its films made on an editorially independent basis, to the highest international broadcast standards.

While dev.tv’s output is in both English and French, TVEAP will distribute the content primarily in English in the Asia Pacific.

dev.tv film titles will be progressively added to the TVEAP film catalog, from which Asia Pacific broadcasters may order master tapes on Betacam, DVCam or MiniDV formats. Some titles will also be available on VHS and DVD from TVEAP’s online e-shop.

Contact TVEAP Distribution for details and costs:

TVEAP first collaborated with dev.tv in late 2005, in connection with the Digital Dividend TV debate filmed in connection with the World Summit on the Information Society. Since its release in October 2005, TVEAP has been distributing it in the Asia Pacific.