Invisible Heroes, The New Nurses, Hidden compete in La Rochelle

The Finnish/Chilean period drama Invisible Heroes inspired by true events premiered on Yle last April. The series produced by Kaiho Republic in partnership with Chile’s Parox, just picked up the Silver Bird Award-Best mini-series in Seoul. Eccho Rights handles sales. 

The Danish show New Nurses (Sygplejeskolen) which was selected for this year’s Nordisk Film & TV Fond - Best Nordic Script award, has been hailed as TV 2 Charlie’s most popular series ever. REinvent Studios handles sales on the SF Studios production.

The Swedish fantasy thriller Hidden-First Born (Hidden-Förstfödd) starring Izabella Scorupco and August Wittgenstein premiered on Viaplay February 1^st. The Yellow Bird production is sold by Banijay Rights.

Meanwhile the series Mental, French remake of the Finnish series Sekasin, produced by It’s Alive Films, is among four series competing for Best Short Format.

Commenting on the Nordic festival line-up, Carole Villevet, head of the European selection committee told nordicfilmandtvnews.com: “Once more, there is a great diversity and creativity coming from the Nordics, which proves that people are moving away from ‘Nordic noir’. Another strength [of Nordic TV drama] is their top-end writing, directing and acting. Also, each new series brings a unique universe, both recognisable and singular. 

“We selected Invisible Heroes, The New Nurses and Hidden-First Born precisely because they differ from each other, and are samples of the great diversity in Scandinavian production. You have supernatural and paranormal, combined with thriller in Hidden-First Born, a key historical event-unknown to many, in Invisible Heroes, and societal comedy in The New Nurses, which tackles an interesting topic (male nurses fighting prejudice) at a time of women’s fight for greater gender equality in society.”

Asked to comment on the success in France of Nordic formats, such as Skam - ordered for a fifth season - and Mental, both acquired by France Televisions for its VOD service Slash, Villevet said: “The Nordics have a true know-how when it comes to youth drama, a genre in which France is way behind. Each time Nordic content is adapted for the French market, it’s a smash hit [French Skam hit 70 million viewers across 4 seasons], which is why French producers and broadcasters are eager to follow what’s coming from the North. It’s reassuring for them as they invest little coin in youth drama and it’s relatively risk-free for them to bet on concepts that have been successful locally.” 

Last year’s Nordic dramas selected at the Festival de la Fiction de la Rochelle were NRK’s One Night, Home Ground, Helium and CMore/MTV’s Welcome to Texas. More than 35,000 visitors attend the TV drama festival each year.