Göteborg Film Festival

Here are the presented Nordic drama series at TV Drama Vision 2023.

Brothers Roni and Sakari struggle to make a living as professional dancers. They start their own club to finance their dreams, which provides income, housing and training space. However, artistic ambitions and personal relationships soon collide with commercial demands. The loyalty and love the brothers have for each other will be tested by the one thing that always united them – dance.

Produced by Max Malka (Endemol Shine Finland) for Netflix and YLE. Directed by Taito Kawata. Written by Max Malka and Reeta Ruotsalainen (head writer). Format: 10 x 20 min. Nordic and international sales: ESF. Premiere: 2023 

Painkiller is the story of Dijana – a proud Balkan-mother and cleaning woman – and her daughter Andrea – officially a successful artist, unofficially still living with her mum… They try, in their own ways, to make life better for one another but keep failing again and again. Since Dijana is not getting any help for her chronic pain, her daughter has an idea to help her in her own ways… 

Produced by Anna-Maria Kantarius, Garagefilm International AB for SVT and YLE. Written by Johan Lundborg and Gabriela Pichler. Directed by Gabriela Pichler. Format: 6 x 28,5 min. Nordic and international sales: ReInvent International Sales. Premiere: 2024.

Balls (Afturelding) is a fast-paced series of handball, tackling the thorny and ever-changing gender politics of today. Years after burning out and falling from grace, a middle-aged, 90s handball legend seeks to redeem himself by returning to his childhood club to coach the women’s team, where he clashes with a new generation of women in a post #MeToo society.

Produced by Þórir Snær Sigurjónsson, Ragnheiður Erlingsdóttir and Skúli Fr. Malmquist, Zak Zak Filmworks for ÚV, YLE, SVT, DR, NRK. Directed by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, Gagga Jónsdóttir and Elsa María Jakobsdóttir. Written by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, Halldór Laxness Halldórsson, Jörundur Ragnarsson, Jóhanna Friðrika Sæmundsdóttir and Katrín Björgvinsdóttir. Format: 8 x 50 min. Nordic and International Sales: TBA. Premiere: April 9, 2023.

When the son of the German president of the EU Parliament’s Energy Committee is found murdered inside the no man’s land that divides Cyprus, Eleni, a hard-headed Greek Cypriot detective, and Fatih, an unconventional Turkish Cypriot detective, struggle to overcome their national prejudices and work together to investigate the murder. 

Produced by Désirée Nosbusch, Alexandra Hoesdorff, Fenia Cossovitsa, Sophie von Uslar, Sabine Wenath-Merki, Lara Stump (Deal Productions, Blonde s.a., Hager Moss Film). Director: TBA. Written by Simon Farmakas (showrunner & writer). Format: 6×52’. Nordic and International Sales: TBA. Premiere: TBA. 

It is the late 90s. In the final hour of the civil war in former Yugoslavia, a group of Norwegian intelligence agents are deployed in the Balkans – with the goal of infiltrating the Kosovo-Albanian guerilla. With little experience of such missions, the agents soon find themselves deeply involved in the conflict – pushing morals way past what was initially intended. 

Produced by Gudny Hummelvoll (Rubicon) for TV2 Norway. Executive producer: Ivar Køhn. Director: TBD Written by Sebastian Torngren Wartin (headwriter), Erik Ivar Sæther. Format: 6×45’. Sales: TBA. Premiere: Q1 2025

Madeline, a desperate but resourceful single mother solves her teenage daughter Cheryl’s daddy issues by hiring an actor to play one and is inspired to build a profitable but risky relationship rental business to fill the voids in the lives of their wealthy clients as well as their own ambitions, and risk with mental disorders and addictions, marriage proposals and suicide attempts, the tax board and various skeletons falling out of the closets. 

Produced by Karl Kermes (POINT Productions) for Elisa Estonia. Director: TBA. Written by Leana Jalukse, Rein Pakk. Format: 6 x 45’. Sales: TBA Premiere: Summer/Autumn 2024 

The low-born Garen (50) gets the opportunity to raise her status in the Sami community when her son is to marry a reindeer herder. If she can pull off the perfect wedding for 3000 guests, her legacy will live on. But she needs her dysfunctional group of siblings to help her to succeed. Together they are a countdown to disaster as their unresolved conflicts take centre stage. Will this wedding destroy their family once and for all, or will they come through it with a closer and truer bond than before? 

Heajastallan. Produced by Maria Ekerhovd and Elisa F. Pirir, MER Film AS, and Tordenfilm for NRK. Written by Åse Kathrin Vuolab, Pauline Wolff and Jörgen Hjerdt. Format: 8 x 30’. Nordic and International Sales: TBC.

A woman, 2 kids and 2 husbands. A homeless guy and a kid. A celebrity who swaps safety for an improvised concert in the Kyiv metro. An unlikely hero about to quit who ends up saving a zoo full of animals. In the dark hours of February 2022, when many have left Kyiv, and the world held its breath, waiting for the city to fall, they are THOSE WHO STAYED. There are things worth staying and living for. 

Produced by Anna Eliseeva, Kateryna Vyshnevska, FILM.UA Production. Broadcaster TBA. Written by Anastasiia Lodkina, Tala Prystaetska, Artem Lytvynenko, Pavlo Ostrikov, Sergiy Luschik.Ukraine, 6 x 30′. Sales by Red Arrow Studios International. Premiere: Autumn 2023.  

In May 1901, a mutilated body of Oleksiy Alchevsky – a rich banker and industrialist – is found on the rails near St. Petersburg railway station. Despite the suicide note found, rumours that it was a murder creep in. Detective Yanovsky takes the case and learns that the deceased reached a high position from the bottom, starting his way as a tea merchant. And during his life, he made not only a fortune of millions but hundreds of enemies. 

Produced by Nataliia Yakovleva, LLC Ideas Bank. Broadcaster: 1+1 channel. Written by Olga Krzhechevska, Natalya Ribalko and Taras Dron. Ukraine, 45’.