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Every wrong move costs innocent lives in “The Monster of Florence,” exploring the true story of Italy’s first serial killer, based on direct testimonies and court documents.

The four-part limited series premieres October 22 on Netflix. Watch the teaser below.

Eight double murders. 17 years of terror. Always the same weapon: a .22 caliber Beretta. In Italy, a faceless serial killer sows panic, sparking one of the longest and most complex investigations ever.

Created by writer-director Stefano Sollima (Sicario: Day of the Soldado) and writer Leonardo Fasoli (“Gomorrah”), the show is produced by Sollima and Lorenzo Mieli (Bones and All).

Marco Bullitta, Valentino Mannias, Francesca Olia, Liliana Bottone, Giacomo Fadda, Antonio Tintis, and Giordano Mannu star.

The post ‘The Monster of Florence’ Teaser – Italy’s First Serial Killer Strikes in Netflix Limited Series appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Netflix has just released their first teaser trailer for The Monster of Florence (aka Il Mostro), and it will make you want to lock your doors. Twice. We’re getting Mindhunter meets True Detective vibes, and, honestly, it looks genuinely disturbing. Releasing on October 22, the four-part limited series digs into Italy’s most puzzling, gruesome, and unresolved true crime saga. And because Netflix loves a good PR stunt, the release just so happens to line up with their 10-year anniversary in Italy. What a great way to celebrate, right? Directed by Stefano Sollima (Gomorrah) and written with Leonardo Fasoli, this dramatized retelling goes beyond the standard true crime checklist. Yes, there are the grisly murders. Yes, the killer used a .22 Beretta. But the show doesn’t stop at the crime scenes. It zooms in on the investigation, public paranoia, and the many poor souls who got swept up in the chaos.

A brand-new teaser for The Monster of Florence has just been released by Netflix, and it’s already sending chills down viewers’ spines. This true crime series is based on one of Italy’s darkest and most disturbing cases, and it’s coming to the platform on October 22. The release date lines up with Netflix’s 10th anniversary in Italy.

The series is directed by Stefano Sollima, who is known for his raw and intense work on shows like Gomorrah. He created the show alongside Leonardo Fasoli, and the story focuses on a real-life serial killer who haunted the countryside near Florence from the late 1960s through the 1980s.

The killer, known by the media as Il Mostro di Firenze, or The Monster of Florence, is believed to have murdered sixteen people. Most of the victims were young couples found in isolated places, often during the new moon. The killer was never caught.

Netflix has dropped a chilling new teaser for The Monster of Florence, a true crime drama based on one of Italy’s most terrifying unsolved cases. The show will arrive on October 22, lining up with the 10th anniversary of Netflix’s debut in Italy.

Directed by Stefano Sollima, who’s known for his gritty style in shows like Gomorrah, this new series is made with Leonardo Fasoli and focuses on a serial killer who terrorized the countryside near Florence from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s. The killer, who was never truly caught, murdered 16 people, most of them young couples found in quiet, remote places, often during new moons.

According to Netflix, the four-episode drama won’t just follow the police investigation. It also looks at the many different suspects over the years, some of whom were never fully cleared. The story even explores the point of view of...

Netflix has unveiled a fresh teaser trailer for Stefano Sollima’s four-part Italian crime drama The Monster of Florence as well as an October 22 launch date to tie in with the 10th anniversary of the platform’s arrival in Italy.

Created by Leonardo Fasoli and Sollima, who previously collaborated on organized crime drama Gomorrah, the drama recounts one of Italy’s longest and most complex investigations into the first and most brutal serial killer in the country’s history, the so-called Monster of Florence.

Active in the province of Florence between the late 1960s and 1985, the serial killer murdered 16 people, often young couples attacked in secluded wooded areas.

Tapping into ongoing legal proceedings and investigations, the story explores the many possible monsters investigated over time and also focuses on their point of view.

The TV series, a production by The Apartment – a Fremantle company – and AlterEgo, is produced by Lorenzo Mieli,...

Netflix has set an Oct. 22 drop date and launched a new teaser/trailer for its hotly anticipated show “The Monster of Florence” from Italian genre specialist Stefano Sollima about a string of sex-related murders that took place outside Florence from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.

The four-episode limited series, which was shot largely on location, reunites Sollima with writer Leonardo Fasoli and ace Italian cinematographer Paolo Carnera, both of whom Sollima worked with on “Gomorrah” and cocaine trafficking drama “ZeroZeroZero.”

Sollima, known for the gritty TV hit “Gomorrah” and movies “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” and “Without Remorse,” spent more than a year researching the still unsolved case of “The Monster”, the moniker given to the alleged serial killer who committed eight double murders, preying on couples parked in cars in secluded places around Florence. “The Monster” always used the same weapon, a 22 caliber Beretta.

Sollima was in...

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The Waterfront is a family crime drama series created by Kevin Williamson. The Netflix series is set in North Carolina, and it follows the Buckley family, who own and operate the state’s most storied fishing empire, but when the family business faces trouble, they decide to turn to a life of crime and begin smuggling drugs. The Waterfront stars Holt McCallany, Maria Bello, Melissa Benoist, Jake Weary, Rafael L. Silva, Humberly González, Danielle Campbell, and Brady Hepner. So, if you loved the intense family drama, thrilling crime story, and compelling characters in The Waterfront, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Ozark (Netflix) Credit – Netflix

The chaos and the constant danger from both the drug dealers and cops is extremely thrilling to watch in The Waterfront, and that’s why this series had an...

Prominent Italian producer Pietro Valsecchi (“Quo Vado”) is developing a high-end Luciano Pavarotti biopic for which he has secured a consulting agreement with Nicoletta Mantovani, the second wife of the late great tenor who broadened the audience for opera and became a global pop culture icon.

A screenplay for the Pavarotti project is being penned by ace Italian screenwriter Leonardo Fasoli, a head writer on the series “Gomorrah” which is Italy’s top TV export.

Mantovani, who established the Luciano Pavarotti Foundation after the maestro’s death at 71, in 2007, is providing the project with documents, rare images, private letters, mementos and more from the archives of the foundation and museum in the Northern Italian city of Modena that was Pavarotti’s home.

As part of the agreement, Mantovani “will be actively involved in every aspect of the project, contributing first-hand to the narrative and artistic construction of the film,” according to a statement.

“Gomorrah,” the gritty Neapolitan mob series that is Italy’s biggest TV export, is set to return in January of 2026 — albeit in a 1970s-set incarnation — as “Gomorrah – The Series. The Origins.”

Comcast-owned pay-tv service Sky has announced a January release date on the first installment of the “Gomorrah” origins story that, as previously announced, will recount the rise of mobster Pietro Savastano. Savastano, who in “Gomorrah” is the head of the drug-dealing clan that bears his name, is played by 16-year-old Naples native Luca Lubrano in the prequel.

The prequel series is lead-directed by Marco D’Amore, who starred as ruthless central character Ciro Di Marzio in the “Gomorrah” original.

The hotly anticipated show’s lead-producer Riccardo Tozzi during a press presentation said Marco D’Amore drew inspiration for the “Gomorrah” origins show’s tone from Sergio Leone epic “Once Upon a Time in America” about two childhood friends from...

Hulu has unveiled the trailer and key art for The Kollective, the upcoming six-episode series. The A+E Media Group series debuts on June 10, 2025, with all episodes available at launch.

Taking audiences around the world from Budapest to St. Petersburg to London, The Kollective is a gripping thriller about a group of intrepid young citizen journalists who, after a sudden tragedy, find themselves sucked into a globe-spanning web of government lies and corruption.

Through a dangerous international investigation, the group exposes nefarious activities of rogue governments and discovers the human price of keeping truth alive.

The series boasts a star-studded international cast including Natascha McElhone, Celine Buckens, Felix Mayr, Gregg Sulkin, Grégory Montel, Karel Roden, Cassiopée Mayance, Martha Canga Antonio, and Ralph Amoussou.

Lead director and EP Assaf Bernstein and Randa Chahoud direct The Kollective. Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli write the series.

Furthermore, in the creative team are writer and co-ep Ed Hemming,...

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Dope Thief is a crime drama series created by Peter Craig. Based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Dennis Tafoya, the Apple TV+ series is set in Philadelphia, and it follows two best friends who pose as DEA agents to rob drug dealers’ houses. Still, when they accidentally rob someone extremely dangerous, their and their family’s lives are put in danger. Dope Thief stars Brian Tyree Henry, Wagner Moura, Marin Ireland, Amir Arison, Nesta Cooper, Kate Mulgrew, and Ving Rhames. So, if you loved the intense story, thrilling drama, and compelling characters in Dope Thief, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Banshee (Max & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Cinemax

Banshee is an action crime thriller drama series created by Jonathan Tropper and David Schickler. The Cinemax series is set in the...

The first bone-chilling teaser-trailer for Netflix’s “The Monster of Florence” from Italian genre specialist Stefano Sollima has been unveiled. In an exclusive with Variety, the streamer has released the first footage from the hotly-anticipated serial killer series, about a string of sex-related murders that took place outside Florence from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.

Sollima, known for the gritty TV hit “Gomorrah” and movies “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” and “Without Remorse,” spent more than a year researching the still unsolved case of “The Monster”, the moniker given to the alleged serial killer who committed eight double murders, preying on couples parked in cars in secluded places around Florence. “The Monster” always used the same weapon, a 22 caliber Beretta.

The cold case marks one of the longest investigations into the most brutal serial killings in Italian history.

“‘The Monster of Florence’ is not only an unsolved judicial case,...

“Gomorrah” writers Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli are set to explore the string of murders perpetrated by Italy’s so-called White Uno Gang in a gritty crime thriller produced by Riccardo Tozzi (“Gomorrah”) and Pietro Valsecchi (“Quo Vado?”).

The White Uno Gang was a criminal organization made up mainly of police officers with ties to the far right that was active during the 1980’s and the 1990’s. The gang — whose name refers to the Fiat Uno car, which its members frequently used – operated in Italy, mainly in the central Emilia-Romagna region. Between 1987 and 1994, the White Uno Gang pulled off 103 heists, mostly armed robberies, causing 24 deaths and 102 injuries.

Though the gang leaders have been caught and brought to justice, their extreme violence and the fact that many of their heists brought small loot have prompted suspicions that they were in fact terrorists, possibly tied to Italian secret services.

Investigators, including an Italian parliamentary commission,...

Greenlit is the international series showcase at Mia and a spot where juicy new titles are seen, often for the first time. The seven-strong lineup spans big-ticket sequels and prequels – step forward Italian giants Gomorrah and The Law According to Lidia Poët – new originals, adaptations and remakes. Paolo Ciccarelli, Head of Drama at Mia, manages the Greenlit program.

Each project is presented on Mia’s main stage by its producers, commissioners or talent. Gomorrah – The Origins is sure to grab attention. From Sky Studios and Cattleya and for Sky Italia, it was created by Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli, and tells the story of Pietro Savastano, from a boy the street who rises up the ranks to become the most important crime boss in Naples. Sandokan is a remake of the cult Italian pirate series produced by Lux Vide and Rai for the Italian pubcaster. Turkish star Can Yaman leads the cast,...

“Gomorrah,” the gritty Neapolitan mob series that became Italy’s biggest TV export, is back — albeit in a different time frame.

Shooting is set to start in early 2025 in Naples on “Gomorrah – The Series. The Origins,” the hit crime drama’s previously announced origin story that will be directed by Marco D’Amore, the actor who played ruthless central character Ciro Di Marzio on the show.

D’Amore, who previously helmed several episodes of the series as well as a prequel feature film to “Gomorrah” titled “The Immortal” – and subsequently further honed his behind-the-camera chops directing Naples-set movies “Napoli Magica” and “Caracas” – officially announced on Tuesday that he will lead-direct this new project in a video to which Variety has been given exclusive access.

“Today I’m here to tell you that we will finally explore the saga’s origins,” D’Amore says in the video, which can be viewed above.

Exclusive: The anticipated prequel series to Italian mega-hit Gomorrah is currently being envisaged as spanning three seasons, we understand from sources close to the project.

The second and third seasons have yet to be formally greenlit by Sky but the creative ambition from those working on the project is for three seasons. The first is due to begin production early next year.

The currently untitled prequel series, set in 1970’s Naples, will chart the origin story and rise to power of crime boss Pietro Savastano and his wife, Imma Savastano, whose family are the subject of the original Sky Italia and Cattleya hit. We understand a number of the characters from the first season of the show are likely to appear as their younger selves and the idea is for the third season to take the story up to events of the original.

Many of the show’s key creators are back,...

“Very beautiful and very challenging.” Those are the first two words that director Stefano Sollima uses to describe his upcoming, four-part Netflix crime series Il Mostro, which has just finished filming. Created by Leonardo Fasoli and Sollima (who also co-produced with Lorenzo Mieli), and produced by The Apartment — a Fremantle company — and AlterEgo Productions, this is a series that has faced titanic challenges. Sollima is no stranger to the crime genre, having directed the so-called Romanzo Criminale (criminal Rome trilogy) — Acab (All Cops Are Bastards), Suburra and Adagio — as well as Soldado the 2018 sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario, and Senza Rimorso (Without Remorse), the 2021 thriller co-written by Taylor Sheridan and based on the book by Tom Clancy. This is all in addition to being the showrunner on the seminal Italian crime series Gomorra and ZeroZeroZero, his ambitious series based on Roberto Saviano’s book about the international drug trade.

Exclusive: Filming is underway on long-gestating European thriller series The Kollective (6 x 60′), which we can reveal will star Natascha McElhone (Californication), Celine Buckens (Showtrial), Felix Mayr (Unorthodox), Gregg Sulkin (Marvel’s Runaways), Grégory Montel (Call My Agent), Karel Roden (A Spy Amongst Friends), Cassiopée Mayance (The Clearstream Affair), Martha Canga Antonio (Lupin) and Ralph Amoussou (Transatlantic).

Produced by Submarine (Apollo 10 ½) and created by Leonardo Fasoli (Gomorrah), Maddalena Ravagli (Gomorrah) and Submarine’s Femke Wolting, the series was commissioned by The European Alliance and will be distributed worldwide by A+E Media Group, with Hulu coming aboard for U.S. distribution.

Inspired by the investigative journalist group Bellingcat, the series will span Europe from Budapest and St. Petersburg in the East to London in the West. It will follow a group of intrepid young citizen journalists who, after a sudden tragedy, find themselves sucked into a web of government lies and corruption.

Madrid-based Rock & Ruz – the production company of Netflix’s “Nowhere,” which has just been confirmed by Netflix as its most-viewed Spanish-language movie of all time – has pacted new projects with Italy’s Leonardo Fasoli, a head-writer of “Gomorrah” and creator of “ZeroZeroZero,” and Spain-based Alejandro Hernández, a co-writer on Alejandro Amenábar’s “While at War” and “La Fortuna.”

Targeting the key to high-end fiction success in Europe – its screenwriters – and added to “Nowhere” and an upcoming Spanish-Mexican remake of hit Korean movie “Miracle in Cell No. 7” – the freshly-announced projects mark out Rock & Ruz as a new and significant Spain-based international player.

As international markets – both theatrical and global streamers – are asking for bigger films with identifiable audiences, Rock & Ruz’s bold slate looks like a ready source of titles.

“Our company is focused on producing global strategic projects. No matter if they are in English or Spanish,” Rock & Ruz...

Company is readying theatrical feature ’Everything We Ever Wanted’ directed by Francesca Comencini.

Cattleya, the Italian film and TV outfit company backed by ITV Studios, has teamed with writers Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli to launch a new outfit called Dedalus.

Cattleya has previously worked with Fasoli and Ravagli on series such as Gomorrah, ZeroZeroZero, The Immortal and Django.

Dedalus, which will develop and produce films and television series, is working on Francesca Comencini’s feature Everything We Ever Wanted, billed as a a story of love and friendship within the Neapolitan mob, set during two different time periods.

Comencini...

Company is readying theatrical feature ’Everything We Ever Wanted’ directed by Francesca Comencini.

ITV Studios-backed Italian production outfit Cattleya has teamed with writers Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli to co-found Dedalus.

Rome-based Cattleya has previously worked with Fasoli and Ravagli on shows such as Gomorrah, ZeroZeroZero, The Immortal and Django.

Dedalus, which will develop and produce films and television series, is working on theatrical feature Everything We Ever Wanted, billed as a a story of love and friendship amidst a mid-seventies Neapolitan mob, set during two different time periods and directed by Francesca Comencini, whose credits include 2012 Venice competition...

Gomorrah writers Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli have launched an ITV Studios-backed Italian indie with Cattleya, as ITV Studios unveils a second season of My Mum, Your Dad UK with Mipcom Cannes kicking off.

The new outfit, Dedalus, is aiming to develop and produce films and television series by building on the approach already seen in the collaboration between Cattleya and Fasoli – Ravagli to date. It said it will “foreground the role of research and innovation alongside that of the writers’ full engagement throughout the creative process.”

Dedalus is already working on two projects: Everything We Ever Wanted, a theatrical feature about a story of love and friendship amidst a mid-seventies Neapolitan mob, set during two different time periods and directed by Francesca Comencini. The second project, Erba, a television series based on one of Italy’s most disturbing crime stories, will look carefully at the context in which...

ITV Studios-owned Italian production company Cattleya is joining forces with Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli, Italian writers whose credits include such cross-over TV series as Gomorrah, ZeroZeroZero and Django to launch Dedalus, a new production company which will develop drama projects for the big and small screens.

Dedalus has two projects far along in the pipeline: Everything We Ever Wanted, a theatrical feature about love and friendship set against the world of the 1970s Neopolitan mafia, which Francesca Comencini (Django) will direct; and Erba, a TV series inspired by a horrific crime — the brutal murders of a family of four by their seemingly-ordinary middle-aged neighbors — that shocked Italy in December 2006.

“Over the years we have formed a special bond with Leonardo and Maddalena, based on a unique way of working together which actively involves them at every stage of our shared projects,” said Cattleya founder Riccardo Tozzi, who announced...

Sky Studios is developing prequels to “Gomorrah” and “Crime Novel,” the two widely exported Sky Italia original crime series that are considered Italian TV milestones.

News that Sky and ITV-owned production company Cattleya are looking to reboot these two shows with origin stories was announced as Sky Italia celebrates its 20th anniversary with a big bash in Rome.

Sky Italia first ventured into Italian TV production in 2008 with “Romanzo Criminale,” as “Crime Novel” is known in Italian, which is centered around a real Roman heroin-dealing gang. Besides being a hit in Italy, the story also traveled widely. “Gomorrah” (pictured above), which is based on Roberto Saviano’s bestselling Neapolitan mob exposé, launched in 2014. From the outset, this gritty show brought audiences inside the belly of the real Neapolitan criminal underworld, thanks in part to being shot almost entirely in the actual places it portrays. Besides attaining megahit status in Italy,...

Sky Studios is developing prequel series to Gomorrah and Romanzo Criminale.

The pair of shows are widely regarded to be two of the most successful Italian TV series of all time.

Inspired by Roberto Saviano’s bestseller, the untitled Gomorrah prequel from ITV Studios-backed Cattleya will spotlight the criminal rise of boss Pietro Savastano, from when he was a kid on the streets to becoming the most important and ruthless boss in Naples. Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli will once again work on the screenplay.

Gomorrah ran for five seasons on Sky between 2014 and 2021, totalling 58 episodes, while a 2008 film of the same name was loosely based on the book. The TV show starred the likes of Marco D’Amore, Salvatore Esposito and Fortunato Cerlino.

Meanwhile, Romanzo Criminale – La serie will focus on the years before the rise of the Banda della Magliana criminal organization, as recounted in the two seasons of the original series,...

Exclusive: Subscription streaming outlet MHz Choice, which brings prestige international television to North American viewers, has set its summer slate with the U.S./Canada premieres of 15 series and nine returning shows. Included among them are French period mystery Agatha Christie’s Criminal Games: The ‘70s and Don’t Leave Me, an Italian police drama from the creators of Gomorra.

France Television’s Criminal Games debuts on the service June 13. The 10-part series adapts Agatha Christie’s mysteries in the 1970s and is led by three intrepid investigators. Emilie Gavois-Kahn, Arthur Dupont and Chloé Chaudoye star. Creator is Thierry Debroux.

On August 15, Federation Entertainment’s Don’t Leave Me will bring Deputy Chief Elena Zonin (Vittoria Puccini) back to her hometown of Venice to hunt down a network of kidnappers. There, she’s confronted...

‘Gomorrah’ Writers To Adapt David Szalay Novel ‘Turbulence’

Gomorrah and ZeroZeroZero writers Leonardo Fasoli and Maddelena Ravagli has been tapped to adapt Man Booker-shortlisted novel Turbulence into a TV series with Envision Entertainment. The book, from David Szalay, comprises interconnected stories that follow 12 protagonists as they fly from country to country while enduring both real and emotional turbulence. Each episode will start and end in London. “We see Turbulence as a once in a lifetime prestige project which can introduce the best local talent to truly global audiences, an astonishing accomplishment in the era of streaming,” said Envision founder and CEO Michael Nakan. Fasoli and Ravagli are working on The Kollective, a TV adaptation of the Bellingcat journalism saga for The European Alliance.

Josh Scherba Named WildBrain Boss

Josh Scherba has been named President CEO of Canadian kids firm WildBrain, as Eric Ellenbogen steps down. The long-serving Scherba was been...

European production group Mediawan, which recently made headlines when it acquired a majority stake in Brad Pitt’s outfit Plan B Entertainment, has sealed another M&a deal, taking a majority stake in Submarine, the Dutch-based producers of Amazon Prime series Undone from Bojack Horseman creators Kate Purdy and Raphael Bob Waksberg.

Submarine’s credits also include “A Dream of a Thousand Cats,” an episode of Netflix and Warner Bros. Television’s The Sandman, Richard Linklater’s latest film Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood (also on Netflix), and the Emmy Award-winning documentaries Last Hijack and Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World.

Among their upcoming projects are drama series The Kollective written by Gomorrah and ZeroZeroZero showrunner Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Rvaglia; and Safe Harbor a true-crime-inspired series by Ozark co-creator Mark Williams.

“We are delighted to welcome within Mediawan a team as creative and renowned as the Submarine team,...

Plan B’s new owner Mediawan is pursuing its buying spree with the acquisition of a majority stake in the Emmy Award-winning company Submarine. The Amsterdam-based company develops and produces international scripted series and feature films and documentaries, and owns the largest animation studio in the Netherlands.

Submarine’s film and series credits include the Emmy Award-winning documentary “Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World,” and the Netflix original production “Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press.” Most recently, Submarine produced Richard Linklater’s latest film “Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood” for Netflix, and the Amazon Prime Video series “Undone” created by Kate Purdy and Raphael Bob Waksberg. Upcoming projects include the upscale drama series “The Kollective” written by “Gomorrah” and “ZeroZeroZero” showrunner Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Rvaglia; as well as “Safe Harbor” which is inspired by true events crime series and is created by Mark Williams (“Ozark”).

This...

Why did the western become arguably the most important genre in post-war filmmaking? From John Ford to Sam Peckinpah, the sweeping vistas and amoral politics lit up the big screen, gifting America a new creation myth. Now, the western is back in a more compact form – and with a transatlantic hue. After Hugo Blix’s excellent The English, Sky Atlantic is rebooting Sergio Corbucci’s Django film franchise as a brooding 10-part stampede through the dawn of the United States.

It’s the Old West, 1872. From the wreckage of the American civil war, John Ellis (Nicholas Pinnock), an almost messianic figure, is building a utopia: New Babylon. His city will be a home to all, regardless of colour or creed, gender or sexuality. Except there’s one man who is apparently unwelcome in this false-front Xanadu. Django (Matthias Schoenaerts) arrives as a drifter, offering himself to the bearpit in a fight to the death.

"Django" is the new live-action 10 episode TV series created by Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli, reimagining the 1966 Italian feature, starring Noomi Rapace, Matthias Schoenaerts, Nicholas Pinnock and Lisa Vicari, premiering February 17, 2023 on Sky:

"....the series takes place in the 'Old West' of the 1860s–1870s, as 'Django' finds his way to 'New Babylon', a city founded by 'John Ellis', where all manner of outcasts are welcome regardless of their background or beliefs.

"Eight years earlier, Django's family was killed, but he believes that his daughter 'Sarah' survived and has been searching for her ever since. Django finds her in New Babylon, but she is about to marry Ellis.

"However, Sarah does not want Django to remain in town, fearing that trouble will follow him. Django is determined not to leave her again, and fights to reconnect with his daughter."

Click the images to enlarge...

Exclusive: Dutch producer Submarine’s good week here in Rome at the Mia Market has continued as it unveiled its latest project.

The Amsterdam-, LA- and London-based firm has followed up its Bellingcat journalism thriller drama The Kollective being taken to series by revealing up Esports thriller series A.D.D. — a collaboration with Nick Luddington.

It is billed as a grounded sci-fi thriller about a young, genius gamer who joins the world’s premier e-sports team, A.D.D., in a bid to discover what happened to her older brother – a former A.D.D. megastar who mysteriously disappeared from the spotlight.” She realizes the team is part of a dark neurological experiment and gets sucked into a dangerous rabbit hole of “corporate corruption, data manipulation and social engineering.”

The series will explore how a corporation called Next-Gen could be harnessing the metaverse that the players compete within for more nefarious purposes.

Broadcaster commissioning initiative The European Alliance has put The Kollective, a journalism-based mystery drama from Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli and producer Femke Wolting, into development.

The announcement came during a session at Mia Market in Rome today, where its execs called for producers to pitch ideas for high-end limited series by January 2023. It represents the ninth series to come from the Alliance, which comprises Germany’s Zdf, France Télévisions and Italy’s Rai.

The Kollective runs to six parts and is born out of a meeting between Wolting and The Alliance’s Manuel Alduy, who is also Director of Cinema and International Development France Télévisions, at last year’s Mia Market event.

It will tackle subjects such as fake news, attacks on EU democracy, bottom-up investigations and the freedom of press, “wrapped up in a highly-charged global thriller and a heart-breaking love story.” Its title...

The Alliance, which brings together European broadcasters France Télévisions, Italy’s Rai and Germany’s Zdf in a commissioning partnership, announced the development of a new series “The Kollective” at Rome’s Mia Market on Wednesday.

France Télévisions, Rai and Zdf decided to join forces back in 2018 to develop and co-produce high-end TV dramas aimed at a broad audience. To date, they have produced nine series, ranging from thrillers to science-fiction, including historical drama “Leonardo,” pictured above.

“The idea was to bring together three public broadcasters who are really on a mission to show our audience programs that resonate. Programs that otherwise none of us could afford,” explained Simone Emmelius, senior VP international fiction-coproduction and acquisition at Zdf. Also mentioning that these days, the Alliance is focusing more and more on younger viewers.

“We have a common heritage and common understanding of stories that should be told, even though we...

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Django is back.

The coffin-dragging, quick-draw gunslinger character introduced in Sergio Corbucci’s 1966 Spaghetti Western classic, which inspired dozens of sequels, spinoffs and tributes, most famously Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, has finally arrived on the small screen.

Sky’s 10-episode Django, which has its world premiere at the Rome Film Festival on Sunday, Oct. 16, is billed as a reimagining not just of Django, but of the Western genre itself.

Set, like the original film, in the period after the American Civil War, the series combines plot elements from both Django and its official 1987 sequel Django Strikes Again, themes from Tarantino’s film — particularly the role of Black people and freed slaves in old West — as well as adding several original ideas of its own. Even Django’s famous weapons-packed coffin makes an appearance, though in a very different setting than the original.

"Where are you running from, stranger?" Sky TV has unveiled a first look teaser trailer for a new Django series, inspired by the original classic spaghetti western from Italy. This new series is created by the Italian filmmakers Leonardo Fasoli & Maddalena Ravagli for Sky and Canal+, though it's an English-language reimagining of the classic 1966 film - with Franco Nero - which was itself a retelling of Akira Kurosawa‘s Yojimbo. This one stars the award-winning Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts as Django, and changes the story around. In this Django, it follows the gunslinger around the Wild West searching for his daughter who he believes escaped the murder of his family eight years ago. The ensemble cast also includes Noomi Rapace, Nicholas Pinnock, Lisa Vicari, Jyuddah Jaymes, Eric Kole, Benny Opoku-Arthur, Tom Austen, and Abigail Thorn. There's no initial debut date set yet, but it's expected by the end of 2022 for streaming via Sky.

An English-language reimagining of the world of Sergio Corbucci’s cult 1966 spaghetti western “Django,” which launched the career of Italian icon Franco Nero, is set to launch from the Rome Film Festival in October.

The high–concept TV series, titled “Django,” will play in 2023 exclusively on Sky and its streaming service Now in all countries where Sky operates, including the U.K., Ireland, Italy, Germany and Austria. It will also air on Canal+ in France, Switzerland, Benelux and Africa. The Rome Film Festival runs from Oct. 13-23.

The 10-episode “Django” show stars Matthias Schoenaerts as the iconic gunman who is the title character, alongside Nicholas Pinnock (“For Life”) as John Ellis, described as the “visionary founder” of the town of New Babylon. Lisa Vicari (“Dark”) plays Django’s daughter Sarah and Noomi Rapace (Millennium Trilogy) has the adversarial role of John’s powerful and ruthless enemy Elizabeth Thurman.

In a...

He also revealed a slate of new Italian film and TV projects, including Elena Ferrante’s ‘The Lying Life Of Adults’

Netflix’s founder and co-ceo Reed Hastings opened the streaming platform’s Rome office today and unveiled a slate of Italian films and series, including a series adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s most recent novel ’The Lying Life Of Adults’ that will star Valeria Golino. Fandango is producing and Edoardo De Angelis will direct.

During the event it was revealed the number of Italian subscribers is “nearly five million,” according to the company. This is up on the four...

He also revealed a slate of new Italian film and TV projects, including Elena Ferrante’s ‘The Lying Life Of Adults’

Netflix’s founder and co-ceo Reed Hastings opened the streaming platform’s Rome office today and unveiled a slate of Italian films and series, including a series adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s most recent novel ’The Lying Life Of Adults’ that will star Valeria Golino. Fandango is producing and Edoardo De Angelis will direct.

During the event it was revealed the number of Italian subscribers is “nearly five million,” according to the company. This is up on the four...

Marking a new phase of expansion, Barcelona-based Scenic Rights, the biggest literary rights broker for Spanish-language film and TV series, is set to enter Central and Eastern Europe opening offices in Prague in January 2022.

Further new international offices will be announced shortly, Scenic Rights has announced.

Scenic Rights Cee marks a collaboration with the creative heads of Dramedy Productions, an independent Prague-based film-tv production house that created retro family drama “Wonderful Times” (“Vyprávěj”), a Golden Nymph winner at the Monte Carlo TV Festival. Dramedy also co-produced Italian crime drama “Maltese” with Palomar and Zdf Enterprises, which was written by “Gomorrah” scribes Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli.

Dramedy will manage operations in Central and Eastern Europe, led by its CEO, seasoned showrunner-producer Filip Bobiňski. Martin Porges and Teresa Lacinová, Dramedy International head of production, will also join the team.

Scenic Rights’ Cee branch reflects a broader market perception that Central and...

Sky has unveiled the official trailer for the fifth and final season of “Gomorrah,” Italy’s cult crime series produced by Sky Studios and ITV-owned Cattleya in collaboration with Germany’s Beta Film, which is the show’s international distributor.

“Gomorrah” 5 is set to air locally on Nov. 19 after world premiering as the closing event of the CannesSeries fest on Oct. 13. The show is based on an idea by Italian writer Roberto Saviano who wrote a best-selling mob exposé by the same title.

The final instalment of the hyper-realistic skein, which is Italy’s biggest TV export, will bow on Sky in Germany in December, and in the U.K. later this year. “Gomorrah” will soon also be coming to HBO Max in the U.S., home to the previous four “Gomorrah” seasons as well as the show’s spin-off film “The Immortal,” which is an integral part of the narrative.

An awaited English-language reimagining of Sergio Corbucci’s classic 1966 Western, a favorite of Quentin Tarantino, major European series “Django” has released first-look images as its six-month shoot continues in Romania.

Studiocanal, which has worldwide distribution rights, has also drilled down on key creative talent, announcing Friday that David Evans (“Downton Abbey”) and Enrico Maria Artale (“Romulus”) are joining Francesca Comencini (“Gomorrah The Series”) in the directors’ team, with Comencini helming first episodes.

First look images show Matthias Schoenaerts – who has sparked consistently strong notices for his performances in “The Danish Girl,” “The Mustang,” “Bullhead” and “Rust and Bone” – as the eponymous Django.

Famed for “Prometheus” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Noomi Rapace, seen mounted on a horse, plays Elizabeth who is described as a “powerful and merciless enemy” of John Ellis (Nicholas Pinnock), caught in a Wild West bar, who founds with fiancee Sarah New Babylon, a city of outcasts which welcomes everyone,...

Some gangster movies/shows never tend to leave your mind. After all, they leave behind a lasting impressing by weaving an intricate and violent tale of power and vengeance through iconic dialogues or a particular shot from that film/show. At times, these movies/shows portray real-life mafia stories in a romantic, yet realistic, manner. If you’re in the mood for the same, here are 5 gangster dramas that are so good to be true and will surely keep your adrenaline pumping.

Dom (Amazon Prime Video)

Dom is a Brazilian crime-mafia series which is inspired by a true story. Directed by Vincente Kubrusly and Breno Silveira and starring Gabriel Leone, Flavio Tolezani, Filipe Braganca, this series is about a police officer who is has been fighting the war against drugs his entire life only to finds his own son become the most drug lord in Rio de Janeiro. Dom, that...

The best way to learn and pick up a language is by watching a film or web series with subtitles. And with you having ample time at home to binge-watch content at its very best, why not tap the play button and experience some of the best shows made in foreign languages. If you’re wondering which are the best ones to stream, here are five of the very best.

Open your mind to world cinema with these must-watch foreign shows.

Dom (Amazon Prime Video)

Dom is a Brazilian crime-mafia series which is inspired by a true story. Directed by Vincente Kubrusly and Breno Silveira and starring Gabriel Leone, Flavio Tolezani, Filipe Braganca, this series is about a police officer who is has been fighting the war against drugs his entire life only to finds his own son become the most drug lord in Rio de Janeiro. So, if you...

Monte-Carlo TV Festival Unveils Competition Lineup

The Monte-Carlo Television Festival has signaled its intention to host an in-person event on June 18-22 by announcing its competition lineup. Some 27 programs from 14 countries have been officially selected to compete, with winners announced at the Golden Nymph Awards Ceremony on June 22 at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco. The nominees include Keshet series Line In The Sand and HBO Max/Channel 4’s AIDS crisis drama It’s A Sin. The full lineup can be found here. Laurent Puons, CEO of the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, said: “We have wide-ranging and exceptional global content nominated for Golden Nymph Awards. The number of programs participating in the competition, shows the ever-growing interest of productions and talent to claim this trophy, a timeless symbol of internationally recognized quality. This enthusiasm confirms that our event remains the pre-eminent Festival in Europe.”

‘Outlander’s Lauren Lyle Joins ITV’s ‘Karen Pirie...

Noomi Rapace and Nicholas Pinnock are joining Matthias Schoenaerts in the star cast of “Django,” an English-language reimagining of Sergio Corbucci’s classic 1966 Western. Set in the Wild West of the 1860s and ’70s, the project marks one of the biggest high-end European series of 2021.

Star of “Prometheus,” “Sherlock Holmes” and “What Happened to Monday,” Sweden’s Rapace will play Elizabeth, who is described as a powerful and merciless enemy of John Ellis. Along with his fiancee Sarah, John Ellis is the founder of New Babylon, a city of outcasts which welcomes everyone from any background, race or creed.

British actor Pinnock — whose credits include movies such as “The Last Tree” and “Dark Encounter” as well as popular TV dramas “Counterpart,”“Fortitude,” “Marcella and “For Life” — takes the key role of John Ellis. Schoenaerts (“Bullhead”) plays the titular role of Django.

German on-the-rise star Lisa Vicari, Martha Nielsen in “Dark,...

The fourth season of HBO Max’s “Gomorrah” will premiere in the United States on Thursday, May 20. IndieWire is exclusively revealing the trailer for the upcoming season, which can be viewed below.

The Season 4 synopsis reads:

The new season clearly turns the spotlight on Genny (Salvatore Esposito), the lone Savastano dynasty survivor: a character who has shed countless skins in the process of morphing from Don Pietro’s spoiled brat into family boss, husband, and father. In fact, the new season sees him on his best behavior precisely for the sake of Azzurra (Ivana Lotito) and little Pietro: with his own family to protect and an activity to reboot, he feels the need for a major life change, committing to legit business while sneaking out, as best he can, from the world his father had him grow up in.

His interests in Naples are now entrusted to Patrizia (Cristiana Dell’Anna) who,...

HBO Max released a trailer for Season 4 of “Gomorrah,” which launches on May 20.

The new season focuses on Genny, who, in order to protect his family, commits to legit business and tries to escape the world in which his father raised him.

“Gomorrah” stars Salvatore Esposito, Ivana Lotito, Cristiana Dell’Anna, Arturo Muselli and Loris De Luna.

Based on the book by Roberto Saviano, “Gomorrah” is executive produced by Riccardo Tozzi, Gina Gardini, Giovanni Stabilini, Marco Chimenz, Nils Hartman and Sonia Rovai. The series is developed by Saviano and Stefano Bises, alongside Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli, who also serve as writers with Enrico Audenino and Monica Zapelli. The fourth season is directed by Claudio Cupellini, Marco D’Amore, Enrico Rosati, Ciro Visco and Francesca Comencini, who is also the artistic supervisor.

Also in today’s TV news roundup:

First Looks

PBS released a trailer for “Tulsa: The Fire and the Forgotten,...

The 6th edition of MipDrama, launching Friday as part of virtual conference and market event MipTV, showcases new series – most in post-production, a few wrapped – from some of the biggest and most exciting drama series players in the world. Few events will command more attention from buyers. The following are brief profiles of what they’ll be watching:

“Agatha Christie’s Hjerson”

Concept Creator: Patrik Gyllström

Prod Cos: Br•F (Sweden), TV4/CMore(Sweden), Nadcon (Germany), Zdf, Government of Aland, Agatha Christie Ltd.

Distribution Co: Zdfe

Main Broadcasters: TV4/CMore, Zdf

Move over Poirot. The latest Christie sleuth will be a dapper Finnish gourmet who, living in a modern-day Stockholm and hardly concealing his bisexuality, ushers the author and the whodunnit into the 21st century. A light and playful reimagining of a figure who only receives glancing references in Christie’s oeuvre, the series packs a powerful producer punch: Sweden...

Exclusive: Cristiana Dell’Anna, star of the HBO Max crime series Gomorrah, has landed the lead role of U.S. Catholic nun Frances Xavier Cabrini in Alejandro Monteverde’s true story feature retelling Cabrini. Production starts June 28 in Buffalo, NY and NYC.

Mother Cabrini was an Italian-American Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a Catholic religious institute that was a major support to her fellow Italian immigrants to the United States. Cabrini, who lived from 1850 to 1917, was the first U.S. citizen to be canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church, on July 7, 1946 by Pope Pius Xii. Her beautification miracle involved restoring the sight of a day-old baby, Peter Smith, who had been blinded by a 50% silver nitrate solution instead of the normal 1% solution in the child’s eyes. Her canonization miracle involved the healing of a terminally ill member of her congregation.