Newen Connect and Flare Entertainment to develop and distribute “Balaton Brigade”

 Flare Entertainment and European distribution group Newen Connect have today announced a deal to co-develop and distribute the highly anticipated new drama series “Balaton Brigade” from Hungary’s Joyrider and Oscar-nominated film director Ildikó Enyedi. The deal marks the latest expansion into TV fiction for the Berlin-based, which Deutschland in 2022. 

The agreement will see Flare and Joyrider join forces to develop the series, which was created by Gábor Krigler, Balázs Lengyel, and Balázs Lovas. Hungarian Ildikó Enyedi will take on the task of directing the series while the companies continue their search for a German writer and director for the creative team. The series will be largely German language, but filming will take place in Hungary during Summer 2022.

The series is the latest international co-production for Budapest-based production outfit Joyrider, recently launched two years ago. Hungary’s RTL Klub will also contribute to the project and will pitch it to German broadcasters this Fall. Newen Connect will be tasked with global distribution.“We are thrilled to work with Gabor and his team," Flare Film Managing Director and Producer Martin Heisler said. "Coming from his background at HBO he has developed an outstanding series with 'Balaton Brigade.'"

 The eight-part cold war spy drama attracted multiple offers from international partners after it was presented at the Berlinale Co-Pro series pitching event earlier this year, where it won the Séries Mania Project Exchange Award. “With such a stellar creative team and this gripping and breathtaking story, we believed from day 1 that Balaton Brigade will become something truly exceptional and we look forward to bringing this fascinating, high-end European series to the international audience,” Rodolphe Buet, Chief Distribution Officer Newen Connect said.

Set during the summer of 1986, "Balaton Brigade" follows Berndt Reider, the leader of a Stasi unit stationed at the Hungarian resort of Lake Balaton. The team is tasked with observing East German holidaymakers to prevent them from defecting to the West or receiving contraband from relatives. However, Reider then plans to flee to the west with his family to protect his daughter before a new surveillance case throws his plans off. “All of us at Joyrider look forward to this journey that will hopefully lead us through multiple seasons to explore the adventures of this little-known spy unit in an awesome location,” Gabor Krigler said.