The scripted content landscape for MIPCOM 2025 is marked by productions addressing current global tensions while exploring universal themes of identity, corruption, and survival.
Keshet International headlines its slate with Red Alert, one of the first
scripted series based on the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. The 4 x
60’ drama from Green Productions and Bender Brown Productions follows five
citizens confronting life-or-death situations during Gaza Strip incursions.
Politically sensitive and emotionally charged, the series demonstrates the
industry’s readiness to dramatize recent traumatic events, though international
reception remains to be seen.
The Israeli distributor
also presents Nutuk, an 8 x 60’ Arabic-Hebrew suspense drama exploring
reincarnation beliefs in the Druze community. When seven-year-old Daniel claims
memories of another life, his parents discover he may be experiencing “nutuk”
(reincarnation), leading to a murder mystery investigation. Created by Roy
Iddan (Manayek, Tehran) and directed by Adam Sanderson (Absentia),
the series reflects the growing trend of Middle Eastern drama with mystical and
spiritual elements.
BBC Studios brings several high-profile dramas to Cannes. Leading the slate is Waiting
for the Out, from award-winning writer Dennis Kelly, starring
BAFTA-nominated Josh Finan as a philosopher teaching in prisons. Based on Andy
West’s memoir The Life Inside, the 6 x 50’ series from Sister
Productions tackles themes of justice, rehabilitation, and redemption.
The company also
introduces Mint, an 8 x 60’ darkly comic crime family drama from
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper), and Twenty Twenty Six, a 6 x 30’
comedy-drama from the W1A team, starring Hugh Bonneville as Ian Fletcher
navigating the political and commercial chaos of world football’s grandest
stage.
Viaplay highlights Vanguard, a five-part drama chronicling
controversial Swedish media mogul Jan Stenbeck. The biographical series,
already honored with two Golden Nymphs and a Kristallen TV Award, examines how
Stenbeck’s disruptive vision reshaped Sweden’s telecom and broadcasting
landscape.
The Nordic distributor
also showcases A Life’s Worth, a six-part war drama about young Swedish
UN soldiers deployed to Bosnia. Nominated at Series Mania 2025, the series
captures the moral dilemmas of peacekeeping missions that spiral into violence,
as well as the unbreakable bonds forged under extreme conditions.
OneTwoThree Media expands into television with two ambitious limited series. 8
Billion, a 4 x 60’ pandemic thriller directed by Harald Franklin and filmed
across Germany, Switzerland, and Ukraine, stars Alan Burgon in a corporate
conspiracy tale involving a supervirus. Land of Smiles, a 6 x 60’
psychological crime drama filmed entirely in Thailand, follows a manipulative
sociopath and his mistress as they lure wealthy foreign men into deadly traps.
Nippon TV enters the drama spotlight with Murderous Encounter, a 10 x
60’ romantic crime thriller in which two journalists fall in love while
investigating a murder, though the female lead suspects her partner may be a
serial killer. The Japanese distributor also offers The Reluctant Preacher,
about a high school teacher drawn into the struggles of students facing
bullying and domestic violence.
International crime
drama rounds out the scripted lineup. Eccho Rights presents the Turkish
series Terra Rossa, starring Engin Akyürek (Fatmagül, Black Money
Love) and Gülsim Ali (Resurrection: Ertugrul). Omega Global Media
introduces Fairytale Detective, starring Dougray Scott as Hans Christian
Andersen, who solves crimes alongside characters from his own stories brought
magically to life.
photo: BBC Studios "Mint"
