BritBox Acquires ‘Cold Courage’
BritBox UK has acquired Viaplay and Lionsgate’s John Simm-fronted political drama Cold Courage. The BBC and ITV-owned streamer will premiere the eight-part series on September 3, telling the story of how two Finnish women get drawn into a clandestine group dedicated to righting the wrongs of the powerful, influential and corrupt. Based on the award-winning and best-selling books by Pekka Hiltunen, Cold Courage was written by BAFTA-nominated David Joss Buckley (Hinterland) and Brendan Foley (The Riddle). The series is produced by Markku Flink and Pauli Pentti, and directed by Agenta Fagerstrom-Olsson and Kadir Ferati Balci. Fredrik Ljungberg, Jon Petersson, Kjartan Por Pordarson, Cormac Fox, Tom Hameeuw, Peter De Maegd and Marc B. Lorber are executive Pproducers.
Banijay Recruits Owain Walbyoff As Commercial Chief
Banijay has hired former Endemol Shine Group executive Owain Walbyoff to the newly-created role of chief commercial officer. Walbyoff will be based in London and reports to COO Peter Langenberg, helping Banijay wring value out of its brands through licensing, merchandising, gaming, gambling and music. Most recently, he worked at technology company MindMaze, which counts Formula 1 teams among its clients. Prior to this, Walbyoff was the managing director of global gaming, licensing and merchandising at Endemol Shine. “In some ways, it feels like a return and in others, a new, exciting adventure,” he said.
Quest Orders Workerbee Car Shows
Discovery’s UK free-to-air channel Quest has ordered two motoring shows from Banijay’s Workerbee. Twelve-part Motor Pickers will follow Paul Cowland and Helen Stanley as they help car buyers select the perfect used car within their budget. Meanwhile, six-part World’s Greatest Cars is a celebratory series that brings together well-known car experts to showcase the best cars ever made. The executive producers for Discovery are Rob Holloway and Jon Stephens, while Rick Murray executive produces for Workerbee. Simon Downing and Victoria Noble commissioned the original series.
Swiss Film Festival Solidarity
The Zurich Film Festival has invited five other Swiss festivals that were unable to stage their latest editions this year to present a film in Zurich next month. Locarno, Nyon, Freiburg, Basel and Neuenburg each have carte blanche to program a title as part of ZFF’s ‘Solidarité Festivals’ initiative. The selected titles are: La Notte Di San Lorenzo (1982, Locarno); Davos (2020, Visions du Reel); The Hive (2020, Frieburg), Moffie (2020, Basel); Schlaf (Neuchatel).
San Seb Adds Movistar+ Series
The San Sebastian Film Festival will host the world premiere of Dime quién soy, the first international production from Movistar+. Directed by Eduard Cortés, starring Irene Escolar, and based on the book of the same name by Julia Navarro, the series is a voyage through the most important historical events of the 20th century seen from the life of Amelia Garayoa, a woman who broke away from social conventions to embrace an adventure-packed existence. San Seb will screen the first three of nine episodes on September 21.