ZDF Enterprises announced a range of new titles and seasons they are launching to market this fall. “ I am proud that we are able to offer such a strong and exciting slate to our clients this fall,” Fred Burcksen said. “A huge thanks to the talent, the producers, and their teams, who have worked under very difficult circumstances to complete their productions and deliver such fantastic shows, that will give audiences everywhere hours of entertainment.”
The line-up, which will be highlighted on MIPCOM Online+, includes new international dramas with "Grow," "Standing Tall," "Sløborn," and "Top Dog" plus various Children’s titles and several unscripted series covering a variety of genres such as History, Nature and Science. At Canneseries, the drama series Top Dog will be screened in the legendary Auditorium Lumière, on 12th October at 15:30 (CEST) and Canneseries Live as part of the official competition line-up.
ZDF Enterprises' President and CEO Fred Burcksen will personally present selected MIPCOM highlights in the company's virtual events room on Monday, 12th October at 11:00 (CEST), invitation only. ZDF Enterprises will also participate in this year's first MIPCOM Global Upfronts with the latest and upcoming drama shows, which will be available from Monday, Oct 12, at 9:00 AM (CEST) on MIPCOM online+.
The scripted slate includes two new thrillers from Denmark. The eight 42-minute episodes of Grow, A SF Studios/Rocket Road Pictures production, follow a young stockbroker who seeks to escape his ordinary life for the thrill of danger and power to become Denmark’s biggest drug lord. “Sløborn” is a thriller in which two bodies are discovered in a stranded sailboat on the North Sea island of Sløborn and growing signs indicate that the bodies are carrying a deadly disease, and now the community must find a way to fight the virus as it spreads. The series was created by Syrreal Entertainment, ZDF, Tobis, Nordisk Film, and ZDFE.
Publispei’s “Standing Tall” also forms part of the slate. The Italian production, directed by Young Montalbano and Maltese, tells the story of an ex-cop who spends his life alone after losing his job. He then finds out that his estranged son has been killed, and feels compelled to complete an investigation. “Top Dog,” by Filmlance is a drama based on a best-selling novel by author Jens Lapidus by which a Swedish lawyer and an ex-prisoner set out to resolve the same kidnapping. It will debut at the Canneseries competition during MIPCOM 2020.
A key title on ZDF Enterprises’s unscripted slate is Great Inventions offers an entertaining and informative series that provides a fascinating insight into the creation of many groundbreaking innovations that changed the world. The long-running series looks at everything from supermarkets, satellites, and jet engines to condoms, computer games, and crash test dummies. Even the humble, but life-changing, hook and loop fastener gets the attention it deserves. Besides the three 50-minute episodes of "Anthropocen," and History series, "Frontlines" reveals some of WW II’s most decisive confrontations. Prospect TV's "The Return of The Bears " showcases European history. In the show, scientists compare how brown bears are living and coexisting with humans in Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania, and the Abruzzo National Park in Italy, where they have never been extinct, to the French Pyrenees and the Trentino region in Northern Italy, where they are currently being reintroduced.
The junior titles that made the slate include SLR Productions’ “Space Nova,” Media Valley/Marzipan Films’ “Zoom-The White Dolphin,” and “Ziggy and the Zootram.” by Grid VFX. Children’s adventure dramas include Hoodie by VRT/Ketnet & Hotel Hungaria 26 episodes of Lemming Film/ Hamster Film/Maze Pictures/ZDFE’s “Heirs of the Night.”