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FESTIVALS / DRAMA SERIES

Icelandic Cold Haven, Norwegian La Palma lined up for Series Mania Co-Pro Pitch

24 AUGUST 2021

Hörður Rúnarsson / PHOTO: Glassriver

Iceland’s Glassriver and Norway’s Fantefilm will be pitching August 30 in Lille their respective shows, competing for the coveted €50,000 Best Project Award.

Both series in development were selected by Series Mania programmers among 15 international original TV dramas, chosen from more than 560 applicants from 59 countries.

Cold Haven (8x50’) is the first Icelandic/Portuguese co-production, spearheaded by producers Hörður Rúnarsson at Glassriver, Iceland, and José Amaral at SPi, Portugal.

Both brands are fast-rising players in the scripted content business.

Glassriver co-founded by major talent Baldvin Z, is behind the buddy road movie Journey starring Olafur Darri Ólafsson, which will receive its international premiere at Series Mania Forum Exclusives, while SPi (part of Grupo SP Televisão) has produced Netflix’s first Portuguese Original Glória series.

Most part of the shoot will unfold at Iceland’s spectacular Westman Islands. Seasoned Portuguese TV director Sérgio Graciano, International Emmy Award-winner for the soap opera Blood Ties is attached as concept director.

The crime show Cold Haven is co-written by Joana Andrade (Nazaré), Sveinbjörn I. Baldvinsson (The Cliff, The Lava Field) and Filipa Poppe (Living Passion).

The series follows a young Portuguese woman, as she moves to a small island in Iceland, in search of a better life for her and her teenage daughter. When she turns up dead, the small community is shaken to the core, anxious to find the killer among them. The Icelandic detective charged with solving the mystery ends up facing the most difficult choice of her life.

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Icelandic Cold Haven, Norwegian La Palma lined up for Series Mania Co-Pro Pitch

Cold Haven temp artwork / PHOTO: Glassriver

“The idea originated with Portuguese writers Filipa Poppe and Joana Andrade, and we’ve added Sveinbjorn I. Baldvinsson to the team after a little internal development at Glassriver,” said Rúnarsson. So far pubcasters RTP in Portugal and RÚV in Iceland have signed letters of intent.

Both series will compete for the Best Project Award, to be handed out by a jury presided over by Polly Williams (UK), Head of Drama at Entertainment One.

Among the previous winners of Series Mania’s Co-Pro Pitching Session is the Icelandic show Blackport, due to world premiere at this year’s TV festival’s main international competition section.

La Palma (6x45’) is the first TV series from one of Norway’s leading producers of genre-oriented scripted content, Fantefilm.

Seasoned writers Lars Gudmestad (Headhunters) and Harald Rosenløw Eeg (The Wave) are co-creators, together with Fantefilm partner and producer Martin Sundland. To be filmed in Scandinavian, Spanish and English languages, the premium show is being produced by Jan Eirik Langøen and exec produced by Sundland and Lasse Greve Alsos, head of the company’s new TV drama division (see separate interview - CLICK HERE).

Labelled as a ‘Scandisaster -in reference to Fantefilm’s signature disaster features including The Wave, La Palma turns on regular Scandinavian tourists, as they are hit by a large volcanic eruption on the idyllic Canary Islands. Suddenly they must fight for their lives through lawless conditions, toxic ash and lava flows to reach safety before being hit by the biggest tsunami the world has ever seen.

The series in early development has received support so far from NRK, SVT, DR, RUV and YLE.

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