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Beta Film, which is heading to Cannes with the world premiere of Swedish royal romance drama “Queen Silvia,” has acquired world distribution rights to Italy’s “The Man from Milan” and, from Ukraine, “Silent Nava.”
The
two new eight-part crime series will likewise make their market debut at Mipcom.
Directed by Simone Spada (“Rocco Schiavone: Ice Cold Murders”) and produced by Cross Productions, RAI Fiction and Beta Film, “The Man from Milan” follows a notorious criminal who joins a rehabilitation program as his ticket to freedom, only to discover that the hardest escape is from himself. The series stars Alessandro Tedeschi (“The Hummingbird”), Vittoria Puccini (“Kiss Me Again”) and Alberto Astorri (“Rose Island”).
Ukraine’s first true-crime series, “Silent Nava” offers a haunting portrait of a corrupt and complicit society that protects predators and betrays their victims. Produced by Sfera Film for Kyivstar TV, the series is directed by Dmytro Andriyanov (“Tabun”) and stars Oleksandr Rudynskyi (“Two Sisters,” “The Agency”), Anastasiia Pustovit (“When the Trees Fall”) and Andrii Saminin (“Shepherd”).
“Queen Silvia,” meanwhile, is inspired by the real-life romance between Sweden’s Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Gustaf. It celebrates its world premiere at Cannes’ Grand Auditorium, which will be open to the public. The six-part series recounts the love story of young Crown Prince Carl Gustaf and German Brazilian interpreter Silvia Sommerlath, who later became Queen of Sweden. Directed by Miguel Alexandre (“Sisi,” “Gran Paradiso”), “Queen Silvia” stars Alicia von Rittberg (“Charité,” “Becoming Elizabeth”) and Edvin Endre (“Vikings,” “Hammarskjöld: Fight for Peace”). The series is jointly produced by Pyjama Pictures in Germany and Sweden’s Unlimited Stories for Prime Video in the German-Austrian-Swiss region and Nordic countries as well as for Sat.1 in Germany.
Beta’s autumn/winter line-up also features such premium international series as:
German TIFF entry “Blindspot Berlin,” which examines how institutional failures, bureaucracy and political blind spots prevented authorities from stopping one of Germany’s deadliest terrorist attacks;
“The Panini Family – Album of Dreams,” the story of the Italian family that turned a humble newsstand into a global phenomenon with their iconic Panini collectible soccer stickers and albums — a business that exploded with the 1970 World Cup;
“Portobello,” the critically acclaimed series from Marco Bellocchio (“The Traitor,” “Kidnapped”) that premiered at the Venice Film Festival, chronicles the true story of a beloved Italian television host who was falsely accused of Mafia involvement in the 1980s;
Spain’s “In Vitro: The Creation of Happiness” — which opens this year’s Serielizados fest in Barcelona — follows a brilliant biologist at a fertility clinic who is confronted with her partner’s desire to start a family and begins to question her own understanding of motherhood.
In addition, returning premium programs in Beta’s lineup include the fifth and final season of historical drama “Babylon Berlin”; Canadian canine cop show “Hudson & Rex”; British mystery series “Bookish”; and “El Immortal,” the Spanish drama that chronicles the rise of infamous Madrid gang Los Miami and its control of the city’s drug trade.
