ZDF Enterprises' President and CEO Fred Burcksen said: “Despite the challenges being faced during the pandemic, I am proud that we are able to offer such a strong and exciting slate to our clients this fall. 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 scripted slate includes two new thrillers from Denmark. Grow (8x42’), produced by one of the country’s top filmmakers, is a thought-provoking tale of self-discovery and morality. The suspenseful drama takes you deep into the heart of the underworld as one man, a young stockbroker, seeks to escape his ordinary life for the thrill of danger and power to become Denmark’s biggest drug lord. A SF Studios/Rocket Road Pictures production, the series’ showrunners are the Avaz brothers, highlighted by Variety as one of their ‘10 Europeans to watch’.
Sløborn (4x90’, 8x45’, Syrreal Entertainment/ZDF/ Tobis/Nordisk Film/ZDFE), from the creator and director of Netflix’s Dogs of Berlin, is another compelling Danish drama. A coming-of-age story as well as a pandemic thriller, 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. As the fatal virus spreads, everything that holds a community together; law and order, government, religion and family, collapses as the thin varnish of civilization erodes and new groups form to take control.
Italian production, Standing Tall (4x100’, 8x50’, Publispei), is a powerful crime series from the director of Young Montalbano and Maltese. An ex-cop, living a solitary existence having lost his job, receives devastating news that his estranged son has been killed and begins a clandestine investigation into his death.
Based on the books by best-selling Swedish author Jens Lapidus (Easy Money), Top Dog (8x45’, Filmlance) is a gripping drama about a Swedish lawyer and an ex-prisoner who have the same quest but for different reasons. Their paths cross when they both find themselves trying to solve the same kidnapping. An unconventional but formidable partnership is formed. Top Dog will premiere at the Canneseries competition during MIPCOM 2020.
A key title on ZDF Enterprises’s unscripted slate is Great Inventions (35x50’, co- produced & distributed by ZDFE), 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.
Anthropocene (3x50’, ZDF/ZDFE) is another brand new Science production. With 7 billion human beings alive today, we have become a force of nature in our own right, able to change the planet and life on it, even determine the nature of our influence. This ground-breaking series puts the spotlight on the human impact and the thirst for innovation and technology that turned us into the most influential life form on Earth.
History series, Frontlines (8x50’, Impossible Factual) takes you deep into the heart of the battle, to reveal the critical turning points in some of WW II’s most decisive confrontations. Midway, Anzio, Monte Cassino, Omaha, Hill 112, Bastogne, Iwo Jima and Berlin, are all battlegrounds where luck and quick thinking often proved as critical as planning and firepower. Compelling first person testimony, unique location demonstrations, cutting edge analysis and vivid storytelling bring these crucial frontlines alive, dispelling the myths.
Examining the most exciting and controversial rewilding programme in Europe’s history is The Return of The Bears (1x50’, Prospect TV). Previously hunted to extinction in large parts of the continent, scientists hope that the reintroduction will have a positive impact on the entire ecosystem. The programme compares 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. But is Europe ready to accept the burden it takes to coexist with brown bears?
New Junior titles from ZDF Enterprises are three delightful animated series, Space Nova (26x22’, SLR Productions), Zoom - The White Dolphin (104x12’, Media Valley/Marzipan Films) and Ziggy and the Zootram (52x11”, Grid VFX) . With space exploration a modern-day reality, Space Nova sparks children’s imagination as they follow the Nova family on their cosmic adventures. Entertaining and educational, the series weaves aspects of astrophysics, aeronautical technology and the effects of gravity into the stellar storytelling. Zoom - The White Dolphin and star of the French cult series of the 70s is back with his best friend Yann as he undertakes exciting forays around the legendary island in the Pacific Ocean. The 3D animated series for upper preschoolers, Ziggy and the Zootram, is about a group of animals who live in a small zoo and have a very special secret. They go home at night and after some hilarious adventures, they are back in their cages pretending to be wild animals for next morning’s visitors.
Children’s adventure dramas include Hoodie (52x11”, VRT/Ketnet & Hotel Hungaria) and two seasons of Heirs of the Night (26x26’, Lemming Film/ Hamster Film/Maze Pictures/ZDFE). Hoodie is an uplifting superhero story centered on a perfectly normal boy, with an exceptional talent for parkour and a heart for justice. Sixteen year old Pieter is like a modern day Robin Hood, using his talent to fight crime in his Brussels neighbourhood. Go back over 100 years to 1889 and young viewers will be spookily entertained by vampire clans, in Heirs of the Night, who join forces in order to survive and defeat Dracula.
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