Articles about Beta Film
Russia’s Reasons
257 Reasons to Live stars Polina Maksimova and Egor Koreshkov and creator Alexey Lyapichev tell DQ about this Russian dramedy in which a terminal cancer patient looks to complete her extensive bucket list.
Mountain mystery
Based on real events, Russian thriller Pereval Dyatlova (Dead Mountain: The Dyatlov Pass Incident) posits what happened when nine students set out on a ski trek in 1959 and were never seen again.
Royal rumble
A Norwegian princess and US president build an unlikely friendship during the Second World War in eight-part drama Atlantic Crossing. Stars Sofia Helin, Kyle MacLachlan and director Alexander Eik discuss the real-life relationship at the heart of the story.
Agent secrets
Jan Guillou’s literary hero Carl Hamilton is given a contemporary update in Swedish action thriller Agent Hamilton. Star Jakob Oftebro and director Erik Leijonborg reveal how it was done.
Explosive Agent
DQ lands in Stockholm to find a city-centre park taken over by filming for spy action thriller Agent Hamilton. The cast and creative team reveal their screen ambitions for Jan Guillou’s iconic literary character.
On the hunt
Fritz Lang’s classic thriller M is reimagined for television by David Schalko in M: Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (A City Hunts a Murderer). DQ met the director and the cast of the unsettling six-parter on set in Vienna.
In the Zone
Directing brothers Jorge and Alberto Sánchez-Cabezudo talk about the inspiration behind Spanish thriller La Zona (The Zone), an eight-part drama that follows the hunt for a murderer three years after a catastrophic nuclear tragedy.
Hunting season
The true story of Italian prosecutor and ‘Mafia hunter’ Alfonso Sabella is dramatised in Sicilian crime thriller Il Cacciatore (The Hunter). Executive producers Michele Zatta and Ferdinand Dohna reveal the story behind the series.
A new crossing
Der Pass (Pagan Peak) is latest drama to take inspiration from Scandinavian hit The Bridge, putting a German/Austrian spin on the cross-border crime format. But, as the producers tell DQ on set at its mountainside filming location, this is a completely new story.
Disappearing act
German film prodco 23/5 Filmproduktion is moving into TV for the first time with Das Verschwinden (The Vanishing), in which a woman searching for the truth behind her daughter’s disappearance uncovers more than she bargained for.
¡Viva España!
Without much noise or fanfare, Spain has been steadily building a reputation as one of the hottest producers of scripted drama, with homegrown series finding fans around the world. DQ takes an in-depth look at the wave of new series coming out of the country.
Directors’ paradise
Tom Tykwer, Henrik Handloegten and Achim von Borries discuss the thrills and challenges of writing and directing period drama Babylon Berlin, an epic crime drama set in Germany during the Roaring Twenties.
Converging on Cannes
The great and good of the television industry are once again packing their bags for another week in the south of France. DQ previews some of the drama series set to break out at Mipcom 2017.
Worth the Hassel
Ola Rapace stars as a detective investigating a brutal murder in Swedish drama Hassel. The show’s lead director, Amir Chamdin, reveals the demands of taking charge of his first television series.
Being Maximilian
One day Jannis Niewöhner was shooting an art-house film, the next he was giving a rallying speech to 150 extras on the set of a German historical miniseries. He tells DQ about period drama Maximilian and Marie de Bourgogne.
The spy who loved me
Writer Paula Milne and director Oliver Hirschbiegel discuss their upcoming Cold War drama Der gleiche Himmel (The Same Sky), in which a ‘Romeo’ agent is sent on a seductive mission in 1970s Berlin.
Czech this out
Štěpán Hulík is hoping to repeat the international success of Burning Bush with his next project, Czech drama Pustina. He tells DQ what drew him to the story of a mining village on the verge of extinction.
The Last Ship extends tour of duty
US cable network TNT has greenlit a fifth season of hit series The Last Ship before season four hits the air. Elsewhere, there is news of a new Nordic noir series and a macabre Aussie thriller.
Norway feels Shame
Norwegian public broadcaster NRK is making strides reaching young audiences with a host of online dramas. As part of DQ’s Digital Drama Season, Julie Andem tells Michael Pickard how Shame (aka Skam) is reaching out to teenage viewers.
Keeping it in the family
Hard-hitting Italian crime drama Gomorrah has been hailed as one of the best TV shows of the decade. Michael Pickard speaks to the series’ writer and co-creator Stefano Bises.