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Script development organisation TorinoFilmLab (Tfl) has unveiled the projects and participants for ComedyLab, its annual programme for developing feature film comedies.

Launched last year, ComedyLab pairs directors and scriptwriters with comedians to help develop comedy feature film projects. From a pool of 122 applications from 44 countries, ComedyLab has selected four projects and will pair them with five writers/comedians.

Scroll down for full details of 2025 line-up

The four projects are: The Flowers by Spain’s Francesca Català Margarit and Àlex Maruny; Fruits & Nuts by writer/director Frédérique de Montblanc (Belgium/UK); How To Become A Trophy Wife In 10 Days by Germany...

Leading European distributor Global Screen, part of Telepool, has secured further international sales of high-end drama “Davos 1917” at MipTV. New acquisitions of the six-part thriller include Sbs Australia, Tvp in Poland and Big Tree Entertainment in India and the subcontinent.

“Davos 1917,” which launched at the end of last year on Srf in Switzerland and Ard in Germany, has already been bought by a strong lineup of premium international broadcasters and streamers across North America, Europe and Asia.

Inspired by real events that occurred in the early days of the European secret services, “Davos 1917” boasts a stellar cast headed by Dominique Devenport (“Sisi”), David Kross (“The Reader”), Jeanette Hain (“Never Look Away”), Max Herbrechter (“Rauhnächte”), Sunnyi Melles (“Triangle of Sadness”) and Stipe Erceg (“Vienna Blood”).

The show is set in 1917 as World War I is ravaging Europe. By contrast, Switzerland seems like an oasis of peace. But behind the scenes of neutral Switzerland,...

Leading European distributor Global Screen, part of Westbrook’s Telepool, has sold premium spy drama series “Davos 1917” to North America and to additional free-to-air broadcasters in Europe.

Global Series Network picked up the series for its innovative SVOD feed Walter Presents in North America. National broadcaster Rtp in Portugal has also acquired the series, as well as Filmin VOD services for Spain and Portugal.

These deals are in addition to recently announced sales to Mediaset for Italy, Mtva for Hungary and Orf for Austria. The six-part thriller launched in December on Srf in Switzerland and Ard in Germany.

Inspired by real events that occurred in the early days of the European secret services, “Davos 1917” has a stellar cast headed by Dominique Devenport (“Sisi”), David Kross (“The Reader”), Jeanette Hain (“Never Look Away”), Max Herbrechter (“Rauhnächte”), Sunnyi Melles (“Triangle of Sadness”) and Stipe Erceg (“Vienna Blood”).

In 1917, World War I is ravaging Europe.

Everyone lies in the World War I series “Davos 1917.” Mostly because they have to.

“You have war, you have the elite coming together in this one place. You have to watch your step and tread carefully. Everything could be a trap,” says Jan-Eric Mack, who directed alongside Christian Theede and Anca Miruna Lazarescu.

The show focuses on a young nurse Johanna who finds herself surrounded by spies in the Swiss resort town. Desperate to reunite with her illegitimate daughter, she discovers she has a talent for espionage, too.

“I think she always had these skills. She just couldn’t show them in the house she grew up in,” says lead actor Dominique Devenport, also known for “Sisi.”

“She has always been different. And then, suddenly, she gets an opportunity to develop talents she didn’t even know she had. That’s why it’s happening so quickly, in a way.

World War I spy drama “Davos 1917” was inspired by real stories, says head writer and creative producer Adrian Illien. As well as real women.

“There were all these Swiss nurses who would go abroad during the war. When you read their diaries, there is a sense of adventure. They could finally get away. I don’t think these female characters have been portrayed before. Until now.”

In the six-part show, unmarried nurse Johanna Gabathuler (“Sisi” star Dominique Devenport) gives birth to her daughter. When the child is taken away, Johanna finds herself stuck in the resort town of Davos. But soon, the German secret service comes knocking.

“Women actually held prominent positions there. With my co-writers [Julia Penner, Thomas Hess and Michael Sauter] we stumbled across one who was a handler of Mata Hari. We always talk about Mata Hari, but I found the spy behind her much more interesting,...

The high-end drama has been showcased at pitching events from Berlin to Turin.

German sales outfit Global Screen has acquired international rights to historical high-end drama series Davos, starring Dominique Devenport and David Kross, now shooting in Switzerland and Germany.

Inspired by true events during the First World War, the espionage thriller centres on a young Swiss nurse working in a Swiss health resort where various spies are meeting to hatch a daring plan.

Devenport most recently starred as Elisabeth Empress of Austria, in Rtl+ ‘s series Sisi.

The series is a co-production between Switzerland’s Contrast Film and Germany’s Letterbox Filmproduktion,...

Letterbox Filmproduktion, producer of Zdf-Arte hit “Bad Banks” – and part of the Studio Hamburg Production Group that backed Netflix’s “Unorthodox” – has boarded “Davos,” a high-end drama series from Zurich-based film producer Contrast Film, producer of “Wonderland.”

“Davos,” a period espionage thriller, is being written by Switzerland’s Adrian Illien, a former producer at Swiss public broadcaster Srf of crime series “Tatort” and Germany’s Julia Penner, head writer on seasons 3, 4 and 5 of “Druck,” Germany’s adaptation of “Skam.”

Budgeted at $13 million, Contrast Film’s Ivan Madeo told Variety, “Davos” is a pioneering high-end drama series for Switzerland, for which Contrast has turned to one of the country’s biggest assets as an international content creators: Switzerland’s mystique as a setting for geo-political power play often tied to the extraordinary influence Switzerland is held to exert on the world’s financial systems.

The Swiss Alpine resort of Davos hosts...