Jan 17, 2024
Berlinale Series Market Celebrates Tenth Anniversary

The Berlinale Series Market is the EFM's main industry platform for serial content from around the world. The conference programme, national and international showcases, and market screenings of the tenth anniversary edition from February 19 to 21, 2024 will take place at CinemaxX. 15 series with outstanding market potential will again be highlighted under the label Berlinale Series Market Selects. Buyers, creatives, industry experts and sales agents can access the three-day programme of the Berlinale Series Market in the immediate vicinity of the European Film Market (EFM), which traditionally takes place in the Gropius Bau: here, sales companies present themselves at stands and industry tables.

“High-quality serial content long ago became an integral part of the market. Distribution companies with series in their portfolio are well-rewarded financially. And with the Berlinale Series Market, the EFM has developed into an attractive centre for trading high-quality serial content. We are delighted to present a diverse selection of carefully chosen, promising new series from Europe, North and South America, Africa and Australia, featuring a wide range of genres and excellent sales potential,” says the EFM Director Dennis Ruh.

New Ideas and Opportunities in Uncertain Times

The current edition of the Berlinale Series Market will also offer an opportunity to explore the latest challenging developments in the industry as well as current topics, trends and perspectives.

The opening panel is dedicated to the challenges posed by budget shifting and cost increases, aiming to identify positive trends. Do innovative funding models, new forms of co-production and collaboration, or the international success of non-English language content give reason for hope? After an introduction by Richard Broughton presenting market data from Ampere Analysis, executives from the global production landscape will put forward their perspectives. They will include David Flynn (WIIP Head of Global Drama), Danna Stern (Global Content Executive) and Yi Qiao (Manager Drama ZDF Studios).

Another panel will address the question of how an industry whose main concern is profit can manage, in content production, to practise social responsibility while appealing to the widest possible audience. The panel will provide examples of successful and socially relevant series from different countries and regions. Presenters include Karolina Peysakhov (Pain Killer, VP of TV, Pastel) and Mauricio Mota (Wise Entertainment, Co-President/Producer).

Challenging times also create an appetite for comedies that can amuse audiences and address sensitive topics. A discussion among content creators from different countries with diverse social and cultural characteristics will look at challenges of creating global punchlines – intended to overcome boundaries without crossing them.

The Showcase Up Next: Germany presents a selection of series projects from Germany still at various stages of production. These include the ambitious multi-perspective narrative of a world without prisons in A Better Place (Komplizen Serien and STUDIOCANAL Series, Film AG, The Post Republic in co-production with WDR and ARD Degeto for ARD, CANAL+ France and CANAL+ Austria, world sales STUDIOCANAL TV), Krank, which is set in the emergency room of Germany’s toughest, most overcrowded hospital (Violet Pictures in co-production with Real Film Berlin for ZDFneo, Beta Film), the documentary series The Young Berlusconi, which tells the story of the birth of private television (B&B Film and Gebrüder Beetz Filmproduktion for ZDF, Arte and Netflix, distributed worldwide by Mediawan), and the vampire series Love Sucks, a modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet (Studio Zentral, U5 Filmproduktion for ZDFneo).

15 series have been chosen for presentation under the Berlinale Series Market Selects label, ranging from historical biopics and stories about political activists to comedy, mystery and explosive thrillers. The series come from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Latvia, Portugal, Spain, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Two German-language productions have also been selected: The drama series Disko 76 with Jannick Schümann and Luise Aschenbrenner, and Kafka with Joel Basman, Liv Lisa Fries and David Kross.

Berlinale Series Market is a joint initiative of the European Film Market, the Berlinale Co-Production Market, and Berlinale Talents.

Berlinale Series Market takes place in primary partnership with the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. It also receives support from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, and its media partner is Deadline.

Berlinale Series Market Selects 2024:

Betinho: No Fio da Navalha (Living on a Razor’s Edge)
Brazil
Creators: José Junior
Showrunner: José Junior
Directors: Andre Felipe Binder e Júlio Andrade
with Júlio Andrade, Leandra Leal, Ravel Andrade
Production company: AfroReggae Audiovisual, in partnership with the Formata Produções e Conteúdo and Globoplay
Broadcaster: Globoplay

The inspiring biography of the sociologist Herbet de Souza, also known as Betinho, reminds us of his fight to combat hunger and provide the poor with access to social justice.

Déjate Ver (Show Yourself)
Spain
Creator: Álvaro Carmona
Showrunner: Álvaro Carmona
Director: Álvaro Carmona
with Macarena Sanz, Joan Amargós, Irene Minovas
Production company: Atresmedia Televisión
Broadcaster: atresplayer

A comedy about Ana, the assistant to a famous artist, who has started to disappear… literally. At first, it's just the tip of a toe, but if she doesn't want to become fully invisible, she'll have to become an artist in her own right.

DISKO 76
Germany
Creators: Benjamin Benedict, Linda Brieda, Lars Montag, Sinah Swyter
Directors: Florian Knittel, Lars Montag
with Luise Aschenbrenner, Jannik Schümann
Production company: UFA Fiction GmbH
Broadcaster: RTL / RTL+

Bochum 1976: Young Doro escapes from her restrictive marriage into the free, colourful disco world. She does not only fall in love with the sexy groovy music, but also with the attractive dancer Robert. When she secretly opens a disco with her brother, a risky double life begins.

Elsbeth
USA
Creator: Robert King, Michelle King
Showrunner: Jonathan Tolins
Regie: Robert King
with Carrie Preston, Wendell Pierce, Carra Patterson
Production company: CBS Studios in association with King Size Productions
Broadcaster: CBS
World Sales: Paramount Global Content Distribution

Emmy Award winner Carrie Preston as Elsbeth Tascioni, an astute but unconventional attorney who utilizes her singular point of view to make unique observations and corner brilliant criminals alongside the New York City Police Department (NYPD).

Familia de Divan (Family Therapy)
Argentina
Creator: Ariana Saiegh, Gonzalo Arias
Showrunner: Ariana Saiegh
Director: Alejandro Ciancio
with Carola Reina, Boy Olmi, Nora Cárpena
Production company: GM Comunicacion / Tronito
Broadcaster: Personal FLOW

A married couple of alternative therapists decide to split up, but continue to work together as co-therapists. Now, they will try to help their patients, but their own problems will become the protagonists of the sessions.

KAFKA
Austria
Creators: Daniel Kehlmann, David Schalko
Showrunner: David Schalko
Director: David Schalko
with Joel Basman, David Kross, Liv Lisa Fries
Production company: Superfilm Filmproduktions GmbH
Broadcaster ARD/ORF
World Sales: ORF-Enterprise

Six episodes span Franz Kafka’s life story. The storyline primarily focuses on the points of view of the women closest to him – Felice, Milena, and Dora, as well as his tyrannical father and his best friend Max Brod.

Lost Boys & Fairies
United Kingdom
Creator: Daf James
Showrunner: Daf James
Director: James Kent
with Sion Daniel Young, Fra Fee, Elizabeth Berrington
Production company: Duck Soup Films
Broadcaster BBC One. Credit is Duck Soup for BBC One, UK, in association
with All3Media International
World Sales: All3Media International

A glittering and ground-breaking drama, exploring the themes of parents, children and gay adoption. Fusing queer culture with a powerful family drama, this is a bold, heart-wrenching story, filled with humour and love.

Matilha (Dogpack)
Portugal
Creator: Edgar Medina
Showrunner: Edgar Medina
Director: João Maia
with Afonso Pimentel, Margarida Vila-Nova, Ricardo Pereira
Production company: Arquipélago Filmes
Broadcaster: RTP, Amazon Prime Portugal

Dogpack, a harmless petty thief with his heart in the right place, tries to keep his new job and build an honest life with Mafalda, his girlfriend. But the world of crime knocks on his door once again and the way out isn’t easy. Dogpack and Mafalda face great dangers and will have to make decisive choices.

Nudes
France
Creators: Nina M. Barbosa Blad, Erika Calmeyer, Liv Joelle Barbosa Blad
Showrunner: Julie-Albertine Simonney, David Fortems
Directors: Andréa Bescond, Sylvie Verheyde, Lucie Borleteau
with Baptiste Masseline, Léonie Dahan-Lamort, Nelligan
Production company: Wild Bunch TV / Alcatraz Films
Broadcaster: Prime Video France

A teen show about leaked nudes where three teens, Victor, Sofia and Ada – each in their own way – are in the midst of a life crisis and forced to handle the situation to regain control of their own lives.

OXEN
Denmark
Creators: Mai Brostrøm, Peter Thorsboe
Director: Jannik Johansen
with Jacob Lohmann, Ellen Hillingsø, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen
Production company: SF Studios, SquareOne Productions
Broadcaster: TV 2 Denmark, ZDF
World Sales: REinvent International Sales

After losing his best friend during a mission, war hero Niels Oxen retreats to a forest. Suspected of the forest owner’s murder, the Chief of Intelligence recruits him to go undercover to the heart of a deadly web of mysteries.

Padomju džinsi (Soviet Jeans)
Latvia
Creators: Stanislavs Tokalovs, Teodora Markova, Waldemar Kalinowski
Showrunner: Stanislavs Tokalovs, Teodora Markova
Directors: Stanislavs Tokalovs, Juris Kursietis
with Kārlis Arnolds Avots, Aamu Milonoff, Igors Šelegovskis
Production company: TASSE FILM
World Sales: Beta Film

In the late 1970s – at a time when the fiercest propaganda against Western culture was being waged throughout the USSR – an ardent rock and roll fan sets up a successful and illegal underground jeans factory in a Latvian psychiatric hospital.

Soon Comes Night
South Africa
Creators: Paul S Rowlston, Robbie Thorpe
Directors: Thabang Moleya, Sanele Zulu
with Kwenzo Ngcobo, Albert Pretorius, Didintle Khunou
Production company: Ochre Moving Pictures
Broadcaster: Netflix (Africa) and SABC
World Sales: Red Arrow Studios International

1990s South Africa. A story about two men, both complex, both determined to prove themselves. A story about how good people find themselves doing bad things and bad people have a surprising capacity to do good.

We’re on it Comrades
Czech Republik
Creator: Miro Šifra
Directors: Matěj Chlupáček, Michal Samir
with Jiří Macháček, Jan Cina, Anna Fialová
Production company: Barletta, Network Movie
Broadcaster: ZDFneo, Czech TV
World Sales: ZDF Studios

This is a paranormal series in which the The X-Files meets Monk at a bizarre institution in Eastern Europe. It’s the 1980s in communist Czechoslovakia and the Cold War is raging: the Soviets as well as the Americans experiment with telepathy and paranormal activities hoping this is what will give them the ultimate edge.

While the Men Are Away
Australia
Creators: Kim Wilson, Alexandra Burke
Showrunner: Kim Wilson
Directors: Elissa Down, Monica Zanetti
with Michela De Rossi, Phoebe Grainer, Max McKenna
Production company: Arcadia
Broadcaster: SBSWorld Sales: Red Arrow Studios International

This irreverent, wry, and witty dramedy set in Australia during World War II, views the experience through the eyes of women left behind on the home front… who find themselves running the show after being excluded from power.

Zorras (Tramps)
Spain
Directors: Aritz Moreno, Ana Vázquez
with Andrea Ros, Mirela Balic, Tai Fati
Production company: Atresmedia TV in collaboration with Morena Films
Broadcaster: Atresplayer
World Sales: Atresmedia

Alicia, Emily, and Diana are women from very different backgrounds. They find a commonality, however, in a desire for friendship and exploration of themselves through sexual experimentation and novelty.

Press Office
January 17, 2024