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European TV group Newen Connect and Berlin-based Flare Entertainment join forces to co-develop and distribute Balaton Brigade, a Cold War spy drama from Hungarian production company Joyrider, which Oscar-nominated director Ildiko Enyedi (On body and soul, My wife’s story) will lead.
The project, which Joyrider showcased at the Berlinale Co-Pro series launch event earlier this year, takes place in the Hungarian resort town of Lake Balaton in 1986, at the height of the Cold War. He follows Berndt Reider, the leader of a Stasi unit stationed in Balaton and tasked with preventing East German holidaymakers from crossing the border to escape west. What his bosses don’t know: Reider himself secretly prepares to flee with his family to protect his teenage daughter, a young swimming prodigy, from the East German doping machine.
Flare and Joyrider will jointly develop the eight-part series, created by Gabor Krigler of Joyrider, Balazs Lengyel and Balazs Lovas. Enyedi, who just presented their debut in English, My wife’s story, in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, will perform. The two companies are currently seeking to bring in a German screenwriter and director for the project, which will be shot largely in German. Principal photography is expected to take place in Hungary next summer. The Hungarian channel RTL Klub is already present as a sponsor broadcaster. Flare will start showing the project to German broadcasters this fall. Newen Connect will take care of international distribution and present the project to buyers during this year’s Mania series, which runs through September 2 in Lille, France.
Balaton Brigade is the latest expansion in small screen drama for Flare, which recently wrapped up production on the German drama series Paradiso for Sky Deutschland. The Berlin-based company, which has been making feature films and documentaries since 2008, launched a television drama division last year.
The French group Newen, which brings together the commercial activities of Newen Group, TF1 Studio and ReelOne International, is one of the leading European producers and distributors of TV content, with a library of around 1,000 films and over 6,000 hours of programs.
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