ORF: documentaries and crime procedurals
ORF-Enterprise, the commercial distribution subsidiary of Austrian public broadcaster ORF, arrives at MIPCOM 2026 with an international catalog anchored by natural history, historical docudramas, and scripted crime series. The company’s delegation in Cannes is headed by Armin Luttenberger, Head of Content Sales International, alongside Marion Camus-Oberdorfer, Sales Director for Music, Performing Arts, and Distribution Investment.
The distributor’s factual offering is led by its established Universum brand, divided into historical investigations and blue-chip wildlife productions. Within the Universum History banner, the slate features Faces of War 1866: The Tragic Dawn of a Unified Germany (52’/90’), a co-production between ORF, ZDF/ARTE, Česká televize, and EPO-Film that reconstructs the pivotal Battle of Königgrätz and the shift of power among German states. The historical lineup also includes Lady Mitsuko – Rising Sun, Turning Tides (25’/45’/52’), co-produced with Česká televize and RAN Film, tracking the life of Mitsuko Aoyama following her arrival in Austria-Hungary in the 1890s. The slate is rounded out by the docudrama From Paradise to Hell – Black People under the Nazi Regime (45’/52’), a co-production with BR/ARTE and Dots and Circles that chronicles the capture and imprisonment of a Caribbean youth in the Mauthausen concentration camp.
In natural history, the Universum Nature strand presents three distinct environmental productions. Wild Connemara – Ireland’s Savage Beauty (2×50’), co-produced with ARTE, RTÉ, and Crossing the Line Productions, focuses on wildlife adaptation across Ireland’s Atlantic coast. For Asian ecosystems, Pamir – The Wild Heart of Asia (available in 45’, 46’, and 2×52’ versions) is backed by an international partnership including ORF, ZDF, ARTE France, CCTV9, and DreiD.at, surveying high-altitude biodiversity. Completing the factual strand is Guatemala – The Sacred Animals of the Maya (45’/52’), a co-production with ARTE, NDR/Doclights, NatGeo, and PKM Film examining Central American wildlife intertwined with historical Maya heritage.
On the scripted front, ORF-Enterprise is presenting three crime titles. The lineup is headlined by The Forgetting (6×45’), a co-production between ORF, Degeto, Mona Film, and Odeon Fiction, which follows an investigator battling early-onset Alzheimer’s while attempting to solve the disappearance and murder of her niece. The catalog also features Heroes at Last (90’), a DOR Film production that marks the farewell case of detective duo Bibi Fellner and Moritz Eisner in the long-running Tatort Vienna franchise. Finally, the procedural offering includes the fifth season of Soko Linz (10×45’), co-produced with Gebhardt Productions, following investigators Joe Haizinger and Biggi Obergschwendter across ten episodic investigations.
