Germany’s impressive crop of crime drama, mystery, suspense, apocalyptic catastrophe, royal intrigue and tales of the supernatural is specific to attract purchasers at this year’s MipTV in Cannes.
The selections of series, Television motion pictures and unscripted shows supply a wide variety of content material but also stay heavy on crime — a preferred German genre.
Amongst the new offerings is Beta Film’s truth-primarily based title “I am Scrooge.” Developed by Zeitsprung Images, the Cologne-primarily based firm behind the hit Netflix spy thriller “Kleo,” “I am Scrooge” chronicles the correct story of Arno Funke, a frustrated artist who identified fame as a bombmaking extortionist in the early 1990s.
Identifying himself as Dagobert Duck — the German name for the Disney character Scrooge McDuck — Funke targeted some of Germany’s largest division retailers, starting with Berlin’s KaDeWe in 1988, even though continually outwitting police and even becoming a nearby folk hero. The six-aspect series stars Friedrich Mücke, Mišel Maticevic, Sonja Gerhardt and Moritz Führmann.
Director Robert Schwentke, lately in Berlin with his satiric significant-screen Roman saga “Seneca,” explores a dystopian future in “Helgoland 513.” Soon after a cataclysm plunges the planet into chaos, survivors type a totalitarian society on a North Sea island that limits the quantity of its inhabitants to 513. Developed by UFA Fiction for Sky and sold internationally by NBCUniversal International Distribution, the higher-finish, seven-aspect series stars Alexander Fehling, Martina Gedeck, Samuel Finzi, Antje Traue, Kathrin Angerer, Tobias Resch and Maja Schöne.
Social organizing is also at the center of “Concordia,” a futuristic drama from “Game of Thrones” producer Frank Doelger and his Berlin-primarily based Intaglio Films. Sold by ZDF Studios, the six-aspect series centers on a utopian city powered by artificial intelligence that has enhanced lives, eliminated crime and powered a booming economy. Chaos ensues, on the other hand, when the AI method is hacked, a city analyst is identified dead and a shocking truth is exposed that might undermine the city’s really existence.
Premiering in Cannes’ new Documentary Series Competitors is Gebrüder Beetz Filmproduktion and Sky Studios’ “Juan Carlos: Downfall of the King,” an investigative documentary about the disgraced former Spanish monarch. Sold worldwide by NBCUniversal International Distribution, the 4-aspect series promises to be “one of the most explosive projects of the year,” according to Christian Asanger, Sky Germany’s VP of entertainment.
Writer-producer Christian Beetz adds: “When we began to make the investigative series about the Spanish King Juan Carlos I, we had been not conscious of the extent of the political dimensions. Bit by bit, a network of intrigue, greed and energy games unfolded, reaching into the highest circles of society and protected by the Spanish secret service CNI to this day. It is a exceptional story that we attempt to inform with out worry or complacency.”
“Dear Vivi,” an “emotional family members drama and thriller combo” from ZDF Studios, has turn into the most effective series on ZDFmediathek, the VOD service of pubcaster ZDF. Written and created by Natalie Scharf, the seven-aspect series revolves about a family members that is torn apart when the father abruptly kills his wife in the heat of the moment and ends up in custody awaiting trial. Vivi, the family’s oldest daughter, tries to take duty for her younger siblings even though their father attempts to clarify the lead-up to his terrible crime.
Telling a further story of modern day-day households, Caroline Hyperlink — who directed Oscar-winner “Nowhere in Africa” — explores psychotherapy for kids and adolescents in “Safe.” Developed by Claussen + Putz Filmproduktion, the eight-aspect ZDF Studios series focuses on Berlin therapists Katinka (Judith Bohle) and Tom (Carlo Ljubek), their individual lives and their young individuals. “As a director I naturally have an interest in psychology,” says Hyperlink.
The subject of psychology and kids was specifically intriguing for the filmmaker’s initially foray into tv. “I’m a mother. I like kids. I really feel really connected to kids. What I identified really moving about this type of therapy is the attitude with which 1 appears at childhood, at kids and adolescents,” she says.
Taking a dive into the great and exploring the planet of the supernatural, ZDF Studios’ new mystery series “The World’s Nicest People” is inspired by classic suspense anthology series such as “The Twilight Zone.” The six-aspect series tells 4 seemingly separate stories that share 1 essential connection — Lill, a psychic teenager confined to her apartment due to extreme allergies. Starring Hannah Schiller, Silke Bodenbender, Anton von Lucke and Sebastian Urzendowsky, the series is created by Studio Zentral, Ungeheuer UG, NDR, ARD Degeto and BR.
Traveling back to 1917, at the height of Planet War I, “Davos” follows a desperate nurse who is attempting to discover her youngster in the midst of a raging battle of espionage among the planet powers in neutral Switzerland.
Developed by Contrast Film and Letterbox, the six-aspect series is set in the Swiss resort town, exactly where higher-ranking members and political elites of all warring nations come to recuperate in the course of the war. Brits, Germans, Russians and Italians finish up neighbors as they recover in the town’s well-known sanitorium, major to higher tensions and an perfect setting for spies. Sold by International Screen, the series, which stars Dominique Devenport (“Sisi”), Jeanette Hain and David Kross (“A Stasi Comedy”), is co-created by Amalia Film, Swiss public broadcaster SRF
and ARD Degeto.
ZDF Studios also presents “Uncharted,” a six-aspect series from Odeon Fiction that just won six prestigious Grimme Awards. The story follows a single mother who disappears with out a trace, forcing her sister Karen, a troubled soldier, to come dwelling from an overseas assignment in Mali to take care of her nieces. At the exact same time, the quiet tiny town is overtaken by an ominous spiral of events.
Supplying a powerful dose of suspense is Beta Film’s “Deep Down — Each Hour Counts,” a two-aspect Television film from Berlin-primarily based Senator Film, Vienna’s Lotus Film and C-Films in Zurich for ARD Degeto, Austria’s ServusTV and Switzerland’s SRF.
Directed by Oscar-winner Jochen Alexander Freydank, the film tells the truth-primarily based story of 1 of the biggest cave rescues in history. When a researcher is seriously injured 1,000 meters under ground in 1 of Germany’s longest cave systems in the Bavarian Alps, rescuers start an operation involving 700 individuals that spans 11 days.
The ten-aspect “Sunshine Eyes,” meanwhile, is a coming-of-age story revolving about two teenaged sisters. Directed by Maria von Heland, the Beta Film title is created by Red Balloon Film, Maze Images and Tindra Film in co-production with Rotor Film.
Also boasting a significant catalog of detective shows, Beta Film is likewise banking on new instalments of established crime drama film series.
One particular is “The Fox,” which centers on Anne, a former East German spy who now runs a private detective agency with her companion Youssef, created by Odeon Fiction for ARD Degeto.
An additional is “Money. Murder. Zurich,” which follows a disgraced lawyer who investigates monetary crimes in Zurich even though attempting to clear his name of false accusations. Developed by Graf Film for ARD Degeto, the series is a significant hit in Germany, boasting up to 7.1 million viewers and a powerful 28% market place share final year.
A third is “At Residence in the Mountains,” set in the idyllic Harz Mountains of central Germany. It follows nearby village cop Frank Koops, who might be receiving on in years and is no longer in the finest of shape, but he knows the mountains like the back of his hand and has a knack for solving crimes that leave other investigators stumped. It is created by Odeon Fiction for ARD Degeto.
And then there is the lengthy-operating classic anthology series “Tatort” (“Scene of the Crime”), a German cultural phenomenon and the longest-operating German Television drama with more than a thousand all round created motion pictures.