22/01/2018 - The Berlinale Co-Production Market’s exclusive pitching event gives eight European series projects the chance to seek out co-production and financing partners

For the fourth time, the exclusive CoPro Series pitching event is being organised by the Berlinale Co-Production Market. Hosted on 21 February at the Zoo Palast, the new venue for Berlinale Series, the exclusive event, which is part of the Drama Series Days (19-21 February), will give eight series creators from Europe the opportunity to present their upcoming drama series to a group of key industry people, including producers, commissioning editors, distributors and other drama-series financiers.

Host country Germany has two projects. Well-known and experienced genre director Dominik Graf (Beloved Sisters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dominik Graf
film profile], Don’t Follow Me Around (Three Lives)) is presenting a noir series entitled Henkersbach, written by Friedrich Ani and Ina Jung (Das unsichtbare Mädchen), while Judith Angerbauer (The Free Will) and Matthias Luthardt (Jesus Loves You) will introduce themselves with their first TV project, Baby Alone.

Known internationally for his Berlinale war drama Letters from War [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Ivo M Ferreira
film profile], Portuguese filmmaker Ivo M Ferreira is also a TV series debutant and will be in attendance with the crime-drama South, which takes place in modern-day Lisbon, where a detective will have to investigate a woman’s murder while stumbling upon a corruption case. Still on the theme of detective stories, the Norwegian project Fury, run by Gjermund S Eriksen, follows two undercover detectives who want to expose a European network of right-wing extremists. Also, the Irish project Costigan, directed by seasoned helmer Neasa Hardiman, focuses on a revenge story about a former police investigator who was locked up unfairly and who now wants to expose her former colleagues.

Known for their acting careers, Icelandic actor-director Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (Trapped, Fortitude) and actor Gísli Örn Garðarsson (Prisoners) will direct Black Port, a drama series that deals with the consequences of fishing monopolies on a village community. Finally, experienced Israeli writers Shani Melamed Nitzan and Gaya Wildman (False Flag) are pitching In a Heartbeat, a story that connects two unusual women after a heart transplant.

The Dutch series The Faction, written by Oscar van Woensel, will participate in the CoPro Series pitch as part of the collaboration with the Series Mania festival and co-production forum. Also, one of the remaining projects will have a chance to pitch at Series Mania at the end of April.

The projects selected for CoPro Series 2018 are as follows:

Baby Alone
Writers: Judith Angerbauer, Matthias Luthardt
Director: Matthias Luthardt
Producer: Akzente Film- und Fernsehproduktion (Germany)

Black Port
Writer: Mikael Torfason
Directors: Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Gísli Örn Garðarsson
Producer: Vesturport (Iceland)

Costigan
Writer: Gary Duggan
Directors: Neasa Hardiman, tbc
Producers: Shinawil, Against the Grain (Ireland)

Fury
Showrunner: Gjermund S Eriksen
Director: Roar Uthaug
Producer: Monster Scripted (Norway)

Henkersbach
Writers: Friedrich Ani, Ina Jung
Director: Dominik Graf
Producer: Cinecentrum Berlin Film- und Fernsehproduktion (Germany)

In a Heartbeat
Writers: Shani Melamed Nitzan, Gaya Wildman
Producer: Black Sheep Film Productions (Israel)

South
Writers: Edgar Medina, Guilherme Mendonça
Director: Ivo M Ferreira
Producer: Arquipélago Filmes (Portugal)

Project in cooperation with Series Mania:

The Faction
Writer: Oscar van Woensel
Producer: Submarine (Netherlands)