Rainmaker Content, the international distributor specialising in drama, factual and special event programming, today announced a co-production and finance agreement with leading indie Woodcut Media for Hitler: A Life in Pictures (4 x 60’) pre-bought by Channel 4 in the UK.   

Rainmaker Content has secured worldwide distribution rights (excluding UK) for the series executive produced by Matthew Gordon and Kate Beal, along with Jonathan Mayo as series producer for Woodcut Media. The series was pre-bought by Polly Scates, Acquisitions Manager, for Channel 4.

Across this unique and exclusive series, Hitler: A Life in Pictures uses archive and expert interviews to explore both the public and the private life of Germany’s infamous dictator, and features the photos and videos of just two photographers who both dedicated their lives to documenting Hitler – Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler’s official photographer and Hoffmann’s photographic assistant, Eva Braun. The archive footage includes 1300 recently digitized, rarely seen photos taken by Hoffmann and material garnered from Eva’s personal photo collection along with more than four hours of her home videos mostly filmed at Hitler’s fortified chalet in the Bavarian Alps.

With the help of experts, including Lutz Becker who found Eva’s home videos after they were lost for 27 years, and Richard Schneider, the special projects preservationist digitizing Hoffmann’s photos, the series asks what was the message behind these images and films at the time and what can they tell us today?

Matthew Gordon, Executive Producer, Woodcut Media comments, “As they say, ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ and the unique images we have procured for this Hitler series speak volumes about the depth of psychological manipulation that led to the rise of the Nazi regime. Whether it’s Hitler in one of his oratorical poses, or carefully staged footage of him as a peace-loving statesman, the sinister underlying propaganda was crafted and projected onto the German public to precision. This series will have viewers gripped to their seats.”   

Vicky Ryan, Co-Chief Operating Officer at Rainmaker comments, “We’re delighted to be working with Woodcut Media on this series which takes a very different look at the propaganda around these images of the 20^th Century’s most notorious figure.  We’re sure our clients around the world will be extremely interested in this first-time opportunity to see these astonishing photographs alongside the home video footage shot by Eva Braun.”