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Rome’s Villa Pamphili Park with its ornate flowerbeds, lawns and walkways is the Italian capital’s largest landscaped garden and a place of respite for the local population as temperatures soar in the summer.

The popular jogging, dog-walking and picnicking spot became a crime scene June 7 when a baby girl’s body was discovered by a hedge, followed by that of a young woman a few hours later in another part of the park.

Mystery swirled around their identities. Some media outlets suggested the woman was a Ukrainian refugee, while others ran reports that she was a hacker, who hailed either from Russia or Ireland.

A week later, a 46-year-old U.S. man, described as a film producer and director named Rexal Ford, was arrested on the Greek island of Skiathos on suspicion of being the killer, in an operation involving cooperation between the Italian and Greek police forces as well as the FBI.

Today, Acorn TV unveiled the trailer and key art for the New Zealand mystery series A Remarkable Place to Die, starring Chelsie Preston Crawford (Underbelly) and acclaimed Australian actress Rebecca Gibney (Under the Vines).

The four-episode original series premieres Monday, February 17 on Acorn TV in the US and Canada, with new episodes released weekly.

A Remarkable Place to Die follows smart and determined homicide detective Anaís Mallory (Preston Crawford) as she returns to her hometown of Queenstown, New Zealand, assuming the role of lead detective and hoping to unravel the truth behind the deaths of her father and sister.

Mallory has a stellar policing career underway after a secondment to Sydney, but she is forced to confront her strained relationship with her mother (Gibney) and the ghosts of her past, including her ex-fiancé Luke, who is now married to her ex-best friend, Maja.

With a new case to solve every episode,...

Exclusive: A new film and TV studio has opened its doors in Queenstown, New Zealand. Screentime New Zealand is behind Remarkable Studios Nz and the Banijay label has already filmed a major drama project there. The studio is now open for business to third parties.

Used as the backdrop to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, Queenstown’s landscape is familiar to filmmakers, but Remarkable Studios Nz is its first studio. The hope is the new facility, which is a repurposed and recently vacated department store, makes Queenstown a hub for primary production rather than a location base or second-unit shoot option.

Screentime New Zealand CEO, Philly de Lacey, is the brains behind the project. Speaking to Deadline from New Zealand, she said the search for a studio space like this has been going on for five years. “The ability to film here and have wet weather cover...

Banijay Entertainment is offering an exclusive early look at its jam-packed Mipcom lineup, featuring plenty of crime dramas, historical epics, popular formats and non-fiction projects from Eva Longoria and Sarah Jessica Parker.

“Our dynamic line-up for this year’s Mipcom truly highlights the continued growth and global appeal of our catalog,” said Banijay Rights CEO Cathy Payne. “From riveting dramas such as ‘Bergerac’ and ‘Wolf Hall’ to high-end factual series like ‘Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain,’ we are eager to present a diverse and competitive slate that celebrates the power of storymaking and the outstanding talent behind our IP.”

Banijay Chief Content Officer, Development James Townley and Chief Content Officer, Operations Lucas Green added: “Our offering of distinctive and fresh formats coming from the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, U.K. and the U.S., underscores our commitment to creating popular IP like ‘Three Are The Champions,’ and evolving classic favorites like ‘By Land,...

New Zealand-set detective Series “A Remarkable Place to Die” is being launched by Banijay Rights at the London Screenings.

The 4 x 90’ murder mystery was created by Screentime New Zealand and is co-produced with Real Film Berlin in association with Banijay Rights.

Smart and savvy detective Anais Mallory (portrayed by Chelsie Preston-Crayford) returns to her hometown, Queenstown, in South Island, New Zealand and is met with a series of startlingly different homicides. She has to crack the cases while also picking her way through a backdrop of past ghosts.

(The play on words in the title is a reference to the mountain range surrounding Queenstown, known as The Remarkables, which in summer offer multiple outdoor sports and in winter provide excellent skiing.)

Among the names from her past are Mallory’s ex-fiancé Luke (Charles Jazz Terrier), now married to her former-best friend (Indiana Evans), her brittle, volatile but loving mother (Rebecca Gibney), and a handsome pathologist.

A new version of RuPaul’s Drag Race is coming to the Netherlands later this year via format owner World Of Wonder, broadcaster Rtl and Dutch firm Vincent TV. Drag Race Holland (8×60’) will feature ten Dutch drag queens who take part in weekly challenges where the bottom two face-off against each other in a lip-synch battle for a chance to remain in the competition. Judges and guest judge line-up will be announced in due course. Viewers in the Netherlands will be able to watch the series on RTLs SVoD platform Videoland and it will also show on World of Wonder-owned and operated SVoD platform, Wow Presents Plus. It will be the first non-English language version of the show available to UK viewers and will be available on the platform with English, Spanish, and Portuguese subtitles. Vincent ter Voert, founder and executive producer of Drag Race Holland, said: “After more...

New Zealand, which already has some of the most generous financial incentives for film, is to launch a fund to help develop feature international films and TV series.

The International Co-Development Fund (Icf) expands the current Co-Production Development Fund for official feature film co-productions. It will include the development and/or packaging of drama series official co-productions or series drama projects with market partners such as a sales agent, streaming platform or broadcaster.

The fund will become operational July 1, and be run by the New Zealand Film Commission. It will have an annual pool of $262,000, which is payable to the New Zealand partner in a co-production as matched development funding.

“SeeSaw and Jane Campion’s acclaimed ‘Top of the Lake’ and more recent series such as ‘The Dead Lands,’ produced by Matthew Metcalfe’s Gfc Films for AMC, [and] ‘Straight Forward,’ produced by Philly de Lacey for Screentime, all showcase New...