WRITTEN BY: Annika Pham
Both series backed by Nordisk Film & TV Fond have premiered on Viaplay and received critical acclaim.
Made in Oslo and Trom are among 12 high-end series hand-picked by the selection committee of the 61st Monte-Carlo Television Festival due to unspool June 17-21.
The Norwegian fertility drama Made in Oslo is lead by an all-star cast consisting of Pia Tjelta (State of Happiness, Blind Spot), Jacob Cedergren (The Guilty) and UK actor Tobias Menzies (The Crown, Game of Thrones).
Created and written by Kathrine Valen Zeiner, the eight-part series follows Elin (Pia Tjelta) a gynaecologist who runs a fertility clinic. She is empathetic and professional, but also longs to become pregnant. She begins treating herself secretly, risking her relationships and career in order to start a family of her own.
The series produced by Tordenfilm for Viaplay premiere on the streamer April 24. Federation Entertainment handles sales.
The Danish crime show Trom set in the Faroe Islands, has already received high international visibility at the Berlinale Series Market and was recently sold by REinvent International Sales to the BBC for the UK.
The series centres on journalist Hannis Martinsson (Ulrich Thomsen), who unexpectedly receives a message from Sonja, his estranged daughter, claiming that her life is in danger. Hannis reluctantly returns home to the Faroes to investigate, and discovers Sonja’s body in the bloody waters of a whale hunt. His search for answers soon brings him into conflict with the local police and uncovers a web of secrets within the close-knit community.
The show was produced by REinvent Studios, in co-production with Kyk Pictures, True North and ZDF/ARTE. The series premiered on Viaplay February 13.
The 61s edition of the TV Festival will open with the world premiere of MGM International TV Productions’ apocalyptic thriller Last Light, co-written by Patrick Masset and John Zinman from the best-selling novel by Alex Scarrow. The show is produced in association with Peacock, Viaplay, MBC Group and Stan. Main actors Matthew Fox (Lost), Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey) and Tom Wlaschiha (Game of Thrones) are expected to attend the world premiere June 17.
Besides the fiction competition programme, the festival has selected nine titles for the News and Documentaries including Navalny-The Man Putin Couldn’t Kill (True Vision, UK) and Amazon’s Lucy and Desi. Norwegian documentary director and producer Tonje Hessen Schei (UpNorth Film) will be sitting on the non-scripted jury presided over by Jill Tiefenthaler, CEO National Geographic (US).
For the first time, the festival will be presenting an International Golden Nymph Award for Most Promising Talent (awarded this year to French actor Théo Christine of Skam France), as well as an Audience Award, sponsored by Beta Series.
Parallel to the Festival, the industry showcase Business Content will present seven panels on industry trends. The topic ‘Unscripted Production Boom’ June 19 will be discussed among others by Tonje Hessen Schei, while Norway’s CEO at Oslo Film Fund Leif Holst Jensen, will take part in the panel ‘Conscious Content: The Shift Towards Sustainable Production’ June 20.
For further details, check: www.tvfestival.com
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