JOURNY Travels to Cuba and India in First-Time Deal with Espresso Media

Ovation TV, America's only arts network, has acquired the non-exclusive U.S. digital rights of two titles for its AVOD travel and culture channel JOURNY. The first is Havana Curveball (1 x 60'), a beautiful documentary from directors Ken Schneider and Marcia Jarmel about baseball, United States-Cuban relations, and Holocaust history, rolled into a coming-of-age story about the complexities of doing good. The deal for Havana Curveball also includes linear rights to air on Ovation. The second title, for digital rights only, is The New Creative India (8 x 30'), a documentary series offering an insight to the world of contemporary Indian design, art, mixed-media, jewelry, fashion, and body-art. The announcement was made today by Elba Flamenco, VP of Platforms and Content, Ovation.

Havana Curveball: Thirteen-year-old Mica takes his Rabbi's dictate to help "heal the world" to heart and launches a grand plan to send baseballs to Cuba - a country with a mysterious pull. He knows only that Cubans have few resources, love baseball, and gave his grandpa refuge during the Holocaust. His filmmaker parents know a curveball is coming. Havana Curveball affords the unusual pleasure of observing a child growing up, both physically and psychically. As Mica shifts from high-pitched boy to broad-shouldered young man, he squares off against the complexity of the adult world. The simple act of giving, which drove his idealism at age 13, seems elusive at 14 and 15. Facing the obstacles the U.S. embargo throws in his way, he must decide how far to follow his dream. Researching, writing letters, imploring his senator, meeting Cuba activists and an attorney, trying to make sense of a high school history lecture and his grandpa's own resistance, he wonders if the whole enterprise is even possible, let alone worth it.

The New Creative India takes you on a journey into the creative spaces and minds of India's artists - both upcoming and established - who are redefining the boundaries in their respective fields. Presented by artist duo and brothers, ManilRohit, the eight part television series offers an insight to the world of contemporary Indian design, art, mixed-media, jewelry, fashion, even body-art. The show features the likes of Manish Arora, the man who put India on the global fashion map; the big boys of Indian fashion - Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla - best described as maximalists; Farah Khan Ali who channeled her love for gems and stones into a career of jewelry design; her sister, Sussanne Roshan, whose curiosity for the color grey transformed into the Charcoal Project, and led her to designing bespoke interiors for the who's who of India; performance artists Gaurav and Avinash, best defined by their imprint BLOT, who give expression to their artistic vision through animation, music, sound and light; Sachin George Sebastian who transforms everyday sights into intricate paper art forms; Prateek and Gautam of Klove who create a fantasy world with their larger than life glass installations and lighting sculptures.

"With the addition of these titles, Journy continues to deliver compelling travel content steeped in artistic and cultural stories," said Flamenco. "Between the message of compassion in Havana Curveball and the inspirational projects of the artists in The New Creative India, we get a broad taste of what it means to approach travel with heart and creativity."

"We are very pleased to be working with Ovation's travel culture channel Journy on licensing Havana Curveball and New Creative India . It is a very important new collaboration for us - especially as Ovation is the only Arts Network in the US, added David Hooper, MD Espresso Media International. "For the producers it is also very important exposure and recognition for their work in the US. We hope to build on this collaboration for exposing further important arts and culture programming through Ovation to US audiences."

Both titles will debut in spring/summer 2020.