TV FICTION Details of all programmes nominated for PRIX EUROPA 2020 are based on the information provided by the submitting organisation. TV FICTION Programmes in Competition 2020 01 Vienna Blood Austria 02 Blackout Belgium 03 Actor Czech Republic 04 Traitor Estonia 05 Peacemaker Finland 06 Merkel Germany 07 The Turncoat - Part 1 Germany 08 The Windermere Children Germany 09 Unterleuten Germany 10 The Minister Iceland 11 My Brilliant Friend - The Story of a New Name Italy 12 ANNE+Sara The Netherlands 13 Bitch The Netherlands 14 22 July Norway 15 The Butler Poland 16 24 Land – The Spy Portugal 17 Spring on the Last Lake Serbia 18 Quarantine Diaries Spain 19 The Paradise Spain 20 Caliphate Sweden 21 Limboland Sweden 22 Labyrinth of Peace Switzerland 23 No. 47 - Sophie Switzerland 24 Anthony United Kingdom 26 Foodie Love Spain TV FICTION Vienna Blood, Episode 1 Vienna Blood Vienna Blood is set in 1900s Vienna: a hot bed of philosophy, science and art, where a clash of cultures and ideas play out in the city’s grand cafes and opera houses. Max Liebermann is a brilliant young English doctor, studying under the famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Max is keen to understand the criminal mind and begins to observe Oskar Rheinhardt, a Detective Inspector in the Vienna Police Department, who is struggling with a perplexing case. Max’s extraordinary skills of perception and forensics, and his deep understanding of human behaviour and deviance, help Oskar solve Vienna’s most mysterious cases. In ‘The Last Séance’ Junior doctor Max Liebermann is undertaking research in the new discipline of psychotherapy much to the disgust of his professor. As part of his understanding the criminal mind, he is given permission to trail Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt, who has been called to the murder of a mysterious woman in Leopoldstadt. Rheinhardt at first is not impressed with having to endure Max, who he sees as arrogant, and is not at all sympathetic to Max’s chosen field of study but is persuaded to allow an autopsy on the mysterious woman, which reveals that she was pregnant. Further investigations reveal that the victim ran secretive seances from her apartment. Max convinces Rheinhardt that someone who attended those seances was the father of her unborn child and her murderer. The series is filmed in English and on location in Vienna. Submitting organisation: Mr Film GmbH Contact: Manuela Poehn – [email protected] Author: Steve Thompson Adapted from: crime fiction Liebermann Papers by Frank Tallis Director: Robert Dornhelm Camera: Andreas Thalhammer, XiaoSu Han Commissioning editor: Klaus Lintschinger, Wolfgang Feindt Producer: Oliver Auspitz, Andreas Kamm, Hilary Bevan Jones, Jez Swimer Production company: Mr Film GmbH Co-producer: Endor Ltd., Red Arrow Studios International Titel of series: The Last Seance Episode: 1 of 3 Length: 98 min Total budget: € 4,166,667 Original language: English First broadcast by: BBC Two Date of first broadcast: 18 November 2019, 21:00 Competing for: Best European TV Movie or Mini-Series of the Year 01 AUSTRIA TV FICTION Blackout, Episode 1 Black-out A nuclear plant gets sabotaged during winter, and causes a nationwide blackout. The Belgian power grid is down and the nation relies on Prime Minister Annemie Hillebrand, the first female prime minister in Belgium, to handle this crisis. What nobody knows, but we - the audience - do know, is that moments before the blackout she received footage of her daughter Elke who appears to be held captive. The video comes with a message: “If the lights turn back on, your daughter dies.” Annemie hesitates. She’s trapped between her sense of duty and the love for her daughter. But can she risk the life of her daughter in favour of the country? Annemie decides to let one person in on her secret: Michael Dendoncker, who is in charge of the Counter Terrorism Unit and investigating the sabotage of the nuclear plant. His police inquiry will take place in a special world, a world where 11 million people are stuck in the cold, dark winter without electricity, light or heat. Submitting organisation: VRT Contact: Franky Audenaerde – [email protected] Author: Bas Adriaensen, Philippe De Schepper Director: Joël Vanhoebrouck Camera: Jan Vancaillie Commissioning editor: Olivier Goris Producer: Helen Perquy, Philippe De Schepper Production company: Jonnydepony Titel of series: Blackout Episode: 1 : 10 Length: 43 min Total budget: confidential Original language: Dutch First broadcast by: VTR Één Date of first broadcast: 15 November 2020, 21:00 Competing for: Best European TV Fiction Series of the Year 02 BELGIUM TV FICTION Actor, Episode 1 Herec A dramatic story of a promising young actor is set at the beginning of the 1950s, in other words, the culmination of the communist oppression. Many young people then had to choose like him: stand up to the totalitarian regime, adapt to it or even actively participate in it. The choice to be made by the main protagonist is somewhat more complicated. He has to hide his sexual orientation, not just from the regime but from society as a whole. ‘Taking an interest in boys’ was a criminal offence. And if you add to it a serious black mark in his political file because of his parents’ transgressions, the question arises of how to transform an existence in fear into a fully-fledged life? Our protagonist decides to use his handicap to his advantage. He offers to actively co-operate with the repressive organs of state power – he becomes ‘the Secret Police’s operational informer’. And it works. It is easy to believe that this way he will protect himself as well as his kith and kin. That after a few years of dirty work he will get the chance to be truly free. For this prospect he will do anything. This three-part mini-series is a study of human character and behaviour in stressful situations when questions of morality and conduct are by no means clear-cut. The clash of the individual with the system’s mechanisms has in the case of the Actor a well worked-through backdrop of the socio-political events of the time which tragically scramble the fate of all the main protagonists and place them before a fateful decision as to what price they are willing to pay for coming to terms with remaining part of the dictatorship, or, to the contrary, by confronting it. And how much they are prepared to sacrifice for this rebellion – particularly in terms of their own conscience. Submitting organisation: Česká televize - Czech Television Contact: Jitka Procházková – [email protected] Author: Petr Bok, Pavel Gotthard Director: Peter Bebjak Camera: Martin Žiaran Commissioning editor: Nátália Rau Guzikiwieczová, Jarmila Hoznauerová, Vladimír Burianek Producer: Rasťo Šesták, Peter Bebjak, Kateřina Ondřejková, Jana Kákošová Production company: Czech Television Co-producer: DNA Production, Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska Titel of series: Herec Episode: 1 of 3 Length: 76 min Total budget: € 389,763 Original language: Czech First broadcast by: Czech Television, CT1 Date of first broadcast: 25 October 2020, 20:00 Competing for: Best European TV Movie or Mini-Series of the Year 03 CZECH REPUBLIC TV FICTION Traitor, Episode 1 Reetur Inspired by some real spy-scandals from recent Estonian history, the story begins in the year 2004 when Estonia joined NATO and became a top target for Russian intelligence. Greed and the need for recognition leads the protagonist Alfred Vind to cooperate with Russian intelligence. Then the thrilling cat-and-mouse game begins with the determined young Estonian counterintelligence officer Marko Arrak. The twists and turns of the action are framed by the the characters’ personal lives, adding a deeper humane dimension to the story. Submitting organisation: Eesti Rahvusringhääling - ERR / Estonian Public Broadcasting Contact: Marje Tõemäe – [email protected] Author: Martin Algus, Andres Anvelt Director: Ergo Kuld Camera: Tauno Sirel Commissioning editor: Marje Tõemäe Producer: Ergo Kuld Production company: Kassikuld OÜ Co-producer: Elisa Estonia Titel of series: Traitor Episode: 1 : 6 Length: 51 min Total budget: € 300,000 Original language: Estonian, Russian First broadcast by: ETV Date of first broadcast: 18 September 2020, 20:00 Competing for: Best European TV Fiction Series of the Year 04 ESTONIA TV FICTION Peacemaker, Episode 1 Rauhantekijä Peacemaker is a searingly topical political drama series which is set in the world of international peace negotiations, arms trade and the complex relationships of those in power. The Finnish Ann-Mari Sundell has a long career behind her as a peace negotiator in warring countries. In addition to building peace, she has closely observed how politicians’ promises seldom lead to concrete actions. During a UN Security Council meeting, Ann-Mari decides to speak out. She reveals that the State of Finland is selling weapons to the warring Saudi Arabia, which is a violation of human rights. A scandal has been unleashed. Theo Slobo, the Secretary General of the United Nations and Ann-Mari’s friend, offers her what is perhaps the only chance for a new career after the scandal. Theo asks Ann-Mari to act as a peacemaker in a position of trust for the UN. Her task would be to negotiate an agreement for the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds that has lasted for decades. The Foreign Minister of Finland, Oskar Rantala, attempts to stop Ann-Mari from revealing any more details about Finland’s arms industry. Rantala assigns Tom Virta, a security man and former soldier, to protect Ann-Mari in Istanbul, where Ann-Mari travels with the members of her team, the Swedish Emilia Engblom and the German Diyar Amedi. In Turkey, Ann-Mari quickly finds out that Turkey and Saudi Arabia are building a massive oil pipeline from Saudi Arabia to Europe, hiding it from public gaze.