Intl. TV Newswire: Netflix Commissions in Sweden, ‘The Bureau’ Heads to Cannes
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In this week’s International TV Newswire, Netflix goes back to the FLX well in Sweden, “The Bureau” is selected to close Canneseries, BBC4 picks up two new series for its Saturday night lineup, Endemol Shine announces a “Love is Forever” spinoff in Spain, and Conecta Fiction earns the honor of selecting this year’s International Emmy Short-Form semi-finalists.
Netflix Commissions Third Swedish Original, “Love & Anarchy”
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Created by Swedish screenwriter Lisa Langseth (“Pure,” “Euphoria”), “Love & Anarchy” has been announced as Netflix’s third Original Series from Sweden. Production company FLX will produce, marking the renewal of a partnership with Netflix which began when the company produced the platform’s first Swedish Original, “Quicksand.” “Love & Anarchy” follows Sofie, played by “A Man Called Ove’s” Ida Engvoll, a career driven consultant and mother of two assigned to modernize an outdated publishing house. Upon her arrival, a flirty relationship kicks off with young IT tech Max, newcomer Björn Mosten, when what starts as a seemingly innocent pushing of boundaries quickly turns dangerous for them both. Alex Haridi will co-write with Langseth and direct all eight episodes.
“The Bureau” Season 5 to Close Canneseries
Canneseries is accustomed to go out with a bang, with, for example, the world premiere of Russell T. Davies’ BBC-Canal Plus-HBO series “Years & Years,” which brought the house down last year. 2020 looks like no exception, Canneseries closing with Season 5 of Canal Plus Création Originale, “The Bureau.” Few French series have ever won larger praise. “This series is the best ever made in France,” said French newspaper Le Figaro; The New York Times called it “the smartest and most authentic spy series (…) in the world.” Created by one of France’s few genuine showrunners, Eric Rochant, and combining U.S. development processes and Rochant’s hallmark hyper-realism, “The Bureau” bows Season 5 with an impressive lead writer lineup – Éric Rochant, and Palme d’Or winning director Jacques Audiard and co-writer Thomas Bidegain (“Dheepan”). Rochant, Audiard, Anna Novion, Samuel Collardey and series lead Mathieu Kassovitz direct. Louis Garrel, like Kassovitz an esteemed French actor (“The Dreamers”) and director (“A Faithful Man”), joins the main cast.
BBC4 Picks Up French, Aussie Series
The prestige validation of a BBC pickup helped to forge a market for foreign and non-English-language series internationally, in a trend which changed the global TV marketplace. Still, it is a gold standard for international excellence and its BBC4 Saturday night lineup has become a place of honor for foreign series such as “Spiral” (France), “The Killing” (Denmark), “Trapped” (Iceland) and “Wisting,” (Norway). It was announced on Friday that two new series will join their ranks, “The Last Wave,” a hit on France 2 when it launched in October, and Aussie-noir drama “The Secrets She Keeps.” The two join Swedish-Danish series “The Investigation” and Norwegian period drama “State of Happiness” in this spring’s lineup, which will also be made available on the network’s BBC iPlayer streaming service.
Endemol Shine’s Diagonal Spins Off Top Spanish Soap with “Luimela”
Endemol Shine Group has announced a new series titled “Luimela” from its Spanish production company Diagonal, destined for Atresmedia’s SVOD platform Atresplayer Premium. A spinoff of the Spain’s 1977-set number one afternoon scripted daily series “Love is Forever,” “Luimela” takes place in 2020 and catches up with characters Luisita and Amelia, a gay couple still together four decades later. According to a press release, the eight-episode series will feature several Easter eggs for fans of the original, while providing a platform for LGBTQ visibility and modern-day feminism, as well as the effects that social media has on relationships in the contemporary world.
Conecta Fiction to Host Semifinal Round of Short-Form Emmy Nominations
The International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will turn to Inside Content to organize this year a semifinal round of the International Emmy Awards in the Short-Form Series category at Conecta Fiction 2020. On June 25, in the Spanish City of Pamplona, Navarre, and in the context of the Conecta Fiction meet-mart, a jury of leading professionals from the international audiovisual industry will convene and evaluate the qualifying series. The category is open to both fiction and non-fiction episodic programs with episodes of less than 30 minutes. Nominations will be made public in the fall, with the eventual winner announced at the Intl. Emmy Awards Gala in November.
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