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Beta Film hat für die nahende Mipcom sein Line-up in den Fokus gerückt. Als Centerpiece fungiert die epische Serie „Rise of the Raven“, die ihre Weltpremiere in Cannes feiern wird. Auch neu im Angebot: die finnische Motorrad-Serie „Last to Brake“.

Die Motorrad-Serie „Last to Brake“ gibt es auch in Cannes (Credit: lkka Saastamoinen)

Beta Film feiert seinen 65. Geburtstag auf der Mipcom in Cannes mit 450 Stunden an Filmen und Serien, die das Münchner Unternehmen vor Ort anbieten wird. Das Kronjuwel im diesjährigen Aufgebot ist die zehnteilige, aufwendige Serie „Rise of the Raven“, die am 22. Oktober um 18 Uhr ihre Weltpremiere im Grand Auditorium des Cannes-Palais feiern wird.

In „Rise of the Raven“ geht es um den Heerführer János Hunyadi, der Europa im 15. Jahrhundert vor der Invasion der Osmanen verteidigte. Produzenten sind Serendipity Point Films, Twin Media, Hg Media, Mr Film und Beta Film. Neben Produzent Robert Lantos wird auch der internationale Cast in Cannes erwartet.

Beta Film, one of Europe’s biggest and most ambitious independents, has unveiled its Mipcom sales slate, led by 10-part epic “Rise of the Raven,” plus a new pick-up, “Last to Brake,” based on the true story of Finnish motorcycle racing great Jarno Saarinen, and now 288 episodes of Greek daily series smash hit “The Beach.”

Also brought to market are two Eagle Eye Drama shows: singular PBS and Channel 4 procedural “Patience,” starring Laura Fraser (“Breaking Bad”); and “Bookish,” created and starring Emmy Award winner Mark Gatiss, as well as Internet troll redemption’s tale “A Better Man,” from public broadcast powerhouses Nrk and Zdf.

Promising one of Mipcom’s biggest world premieres and billed by Beta Film as one of the most epic European TV productions of all time – which is something coming from Beta, the producers of “Babylon Berlin” and “Swarm” – “Rise of the Raven,” produced by the...

Netflix has greenlit a five-part Swedish-language series on Stig Engström, the man who was named as the probable murderer of former Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme.

The Unlikely Murderer is made by Swedish producer Flx — which is behind Netflix series Quicksand and Love & Anarchy — and stars Robert Gustafsson as Engström. The part-fictionalized story is based on a 2018 book by Thomas Pettersson.

Following the assassination of Palme in 1986, Engström managed to elude justice right up to his death through a combination of audacity, luck, and a perplexed police force.

Other cast includes Eva Melander, Mikael Persbrandt and Peter Andersson. Joel Spira, Emil Almén, Shanti Roney, Torkel Petterson, Henrik Norlén, Lia Boysen, Magnus Krepper, Björn Bengtsson, Peter Viitanen, and Cilla Thorell also feature.

Wilhelm Behrman and Niklas Rockström are the writers, while Charlotte Brändström is the conceptual director. Simon Kaijser also directs. The executive producer is Pontus Edgren, while Fatima Varhos...

"Do you have trouble remembering things sometimes?" Guy Pearce's character asks early on in Simon Kaijser's murder mystery. For Pearce, the line must have had emotional resonance, considering that it calls to mind one of his very best movies, Memento. Unfortunately, Spinning Man, based on the acclaimed novel by George Harrar, doesn't benefit from the comparison. Although it pretends to traffic in such weighty themes as how memories can be either real or imagined, the plodding thriller mainly spins its own wheels until reaching a baffling conclusion. Only the talents of its estimable cast, also including Pierce Brosnan and Minnie...

In an alternate universe, Guy Pearce plays sleazeheads, killers, cutthroats with attitude, and various other magnetically bent souls — in other words, just what he plays now — only he does it in movies that aren’t semi-off-the-radar hipster curios and genre throwaways. He does it with the stardom that “L.A. Confidential” and “Memento” promised. “Spinning Man” is one more halfway interesting, not-fully-realized-enough low-budget “dark” thriller that gives Pearce the chance to strut his chops. For a while, he’s quite good as a suave, confident weasel — a philosophy professor who becomes the chief suspect in the case of a high-school cheerleader who disappeared.

Did he make contact with her at the local lake, lure her into his car, do things that he shouldn’t have, and — in the end — kill her? It sure looks that way. “Spinning Man” loads up an accusatory pile of circumstantial evidence against its main character, making him seem guilty enough,...

Sneak Peek footage, plus images from the new thriller "Spinning Man", directed by Simon Kaijser based on the novel by author George Harrar, starring Guy Pearce, Pierce Brosnan, Minnie Driver, Alexandra Shipp, Clark Gregg and Odeya Rush, opening April 6, 2018:

"...'Evan Birch' is a professor and family man, whose past reveals a number of illicit relations with his students. Then, when a young woman is found dead, Evan becomes the prime suspect..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Spinning Man"...

Sneak Peek footage, plus images from the new thriller "Spinning Man", directed by Simon Kaijser based on the novel by author George Harrar, starring Guy Pearce, Pierce Brosnan, Minnie Driver, Alexandra Shipp, Clark Gregg and Odeya Rush, opening April 6, 2018:

"...'Evan Birch' is a professor and family man, whose past reveals a number of illicit relations with his students. Then, when a young woman is found dead, Evan becomes the prime suspect..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Spinning Man"...

We're getting a look at an upcoming psychological mystery film starring Guy Pearce, Pierce Brosnan and Minnie Driver called Spinning Man. You can see the new trailer and poster for the twisty thriller below.

The movie is based on the novel of the same name by George Harrar, and follows professor Evan Birch (Pearce) who works at a distinguished college where he teaches philosophy. When a female student named Hannah goes missing, Evan’s previous off-campus errands make his wife (Driver) question his alibi. Even a detective (Brosnan) grows very suspicious when crucial evidence makes the professor the prime suspect in the girl's disappearance.

The film is directed by Swedish director Simon Kaijser and written by Matthew Aldrich (Coco). Spinning Man is set to hit select theaters and On Demand on April 6, 2018.

"I'm terrified what else you could convince yourself of..." Lionsgate has debuted the trailer for a murder mystery thriller titled Spinning Man, adapted from a book by George Harrar. This philosophical thriller is about a family man and esteemed professor at a college, who gets entangled in the investigation of a missing woman. His "off-campus dalliances" with many of his students make him the main suspect, though we don't know who really took her. Guy Pearce plays the professor, and Pierce Brosnan plays the detective on the case, intent on pegging him as the murderer. The cast includes Minnie Driver, Odeya Rush, Alexandra Shipp, Clark Gregg, Jamie Kennedy, Sterling Beaumon, and Freya Tingley. Despite this strong cast, I actually think this looks pretty bad, a fairly derivative thriller with nothing interesting or new to offer. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Simon Kaijser's Spinning Man, direct from YouTube...

Exclusive: Here’s a clip from the upcoming Pierce Brosnan and Guy Pearce starring thriller, Spinning Man, which is going to buyers next month at the American Film Market in Santa Monica. Simon Kaijser directed the pic, from a script by Matt Aldrich, which follows a charming professor Evan Birch (Pearce), who appears to be living an idyllic life until a young woman goes missing and he struggles to come up with an alibi to clear his name. “College professor Evan Birch has…...

In the scorching heat of the San Fernando Valley, Pierce Brosnan is shooting Spinning Man, a new thriller from director Simon Kaijser (Stockholm East) and writer Matt Aldrich (Renny Harlin’s Cleaner), based on a novel by George Harrar. It’s being sold in Cannes by Film Bridge International and Deadline has come to set, a couple of weeks before the festival, to witness an interrogation room showdown between Brosnan’s tough detective, Robert Malloy, and Guy Pearce’s…...

Jamie Kennedy has joined the cast of director Simon Kaijser’s thriller Spinning Man, which stars Pierce Brosnan, Minnie Driver, Guy Pearce and Alexandra Shipp.

With a script by Matthew Aldrich, the film is based on the novel by George Harrar and follows philosophy professor and family man Evan Birch (Pearce). Evan’s world is upended when his illicit past and a string of inappropriate relationships with his students come to light. When a young woman is found murdered, he comes to the forefront as a suspect.

Kennedy will play Ross, a fellow ethics professor and friend of Evan's.

Spinning Man is...

Exclusive: Alexandra Shipp, last seen as young Storm in X-Men: Apocalypse, is set to co-star in the upcoming psychological thriller Spinning Man, from director Simon Kaijser. She joins Pierce Brosnan, Guy Pearce and Minnie Drive in the pic written by Matthew Aldrich, with filming slated to begin this week. Based on George Harrar’s novel, the pic follows Evan Birch, a professor and family man, whose past reveals a number of illicit relations with his students. When a young…...

BBC Two has announced production on new drama Life In Squares, which focuses on the revolutionary Bloomsbury Group.

The Bloomsbury Group were a collection of artistic friends in the early 1900s who profoundly influenced 20th century culture. The group included sisters Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf.

The cast is led by young stars Phoebe Fox (A Poet in New York) and Lydia Leonard (Wolf Hall) and also features James Norton (Happy Valley), Sam Hoare (An Adventure in Space & Time) and Ben Lloyd-Hughes (Divergent). Edmund Kingsley (The Borgias) and Sherlock actor Ed Birch also star.

Established actors appearing in the series include Eve Best (Nurse Jackie), Catherine McCormack (28 Weeks Later), Silk's Rupert Penry-Jones, The Good Wife's Jack Davenport, Elliot Cowan and Andrew Havill.

The drama documents the fraught relationship between Vanessa and Virginia, and Vanessa's sexual alliance with gay artist Duncan Grant, following them and their group of friends through love,...

BBC Two has announced details of a new three-part drama focusing on the relationship between Virginia Woolf and her sister Vanessa Bell.

Life in Squares dramatises the pair's close but complicated relationship, as well as focusing on gay artist Duncan Grant.

The drama has been written by BAFTA-winning Amanda Coe (Room at the Top) and directed by Simon Kaijser, who directed Never Wipe Tears Without Gloves for BBC Four last year.

Life in Squares is set over a period of 40 years, from the death of Queen Victoria right through to the years of the Second World War.

Kim Shillinglaw, Controller of BBC Two, said: "The legacy of the Bloomsbury set resonates to this day and I'm delighted that such an incredibly talented team are bringing them alive for a modern audience on BBC Two."

Lucy Richer, Commissioning Editor and Executive Producer, added: "We are thrilled to be telling the intimate...

BBC Four has acquired a three-part drama series to mark World AIDS Day.

Never Wipe Tears Without Gloves is set in Stockholm in the 1980s and focuses on new couple Rasmus and Benjamin, who fall in love under the shadow of the AIDS epidemic.

Based on Jonas Gardell's series of books with the same name, the drama was met with critical acclaim when it aired in Sweden last year and won the Kristallen Award for 'Best Television Drama'.

BBC's Head of Acquisitions Sue Deeks said: "This is a beautifully realised drama about the early years of the AIDS epidemic which has a poignant and affecting love story at its heart - we are so pleased to be able to bring it to BBC Four viewers."

The Svt production is directed by Simon Kaijser, with Maria Nordenberg as executive producer.

Never Wipe Tears Without Gloves will air later this year,...

Simon Kaijser's highly popular and acclaimed Swedish three-part drama series "Never Wipe Tears Without Gloves" is being turned into a feature film by Svt reports Variety.

Called a Scandinavian "Angels in America", the true story drama deals with young gay men in Stockholm in the early 1980s.

Producer Maria Nordenberg says a script draft for the feature is done and they are in talks with distributors and co-producers. 1 in 8 Swedes watched the show, so the project is being made with the international market in mind.

By G. Clay Whittaker

Hollywoodnews.com: A stacked lineup is set to impress at the Venice Film Festival, and more is likely to come later this week. But for now the 26th Critics’ Week list is looking strong, if absent representation from the U.S. and Asia.

New works from David Cronenberg, Steven Soderbergh, Roman Polanski, Todd Solondz, Jonathan Demme, Alexander Sokurov, Mary Harron, William Friedkin, George Clooney and Madonna will all show at the festival, but for the Critics’ Week the lineup is largely Eurocentric.

The 26th Critics’ Week features a largely European set of films. Italy’s two home teamers include Francesco Lagi and his comedy “(Mission of Peace)” and a mob thriller by Guido Lombardi. Swedish director Simon Kaijser da Silva has a picture in the competition, as do Cyril Mennegun and French-Ukranian Michale Boganim. Mexico and Argentina have films in play thanks to Kyzza Terrazas and Hernan Belon,...