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Exclusive: Cold Haven, the Icelandic-Portuguese crime thriller drama, has wrapped shooting and we have first-look images of the series here.

The eight-part show from Iceland’s Glassriver and Portugal’s Spi probes the immigration experience, following Icelandic detective Soffia as she attempts to solve a murder within the Portuguese community on Iceland’s Westman Islands.

Cold Haven (aka Refúgio do Medo), which is for Icelandic streamer Síminn and Rtp in Portugal, is predominantly set on the Icelandic archipelago Vestmannaeyjar, the country’s capital Reykjavík and the Portuguese city of Lisbon.

Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir (Let Me Fall, The Valhalla Murders), Anna Svava Knútsdóttir, Elva Ósk Ólafsdóttir and Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson are among the Icelandic cast, with Maria João Bastos, Catarina Rebelo, Ivo Canelas (Glória), Rui Morisson and Cleia Almeida (Nazaré) from the Portuguese side.

Filipa Poppe, Joana Andrade, and Sveinbjörn I. Baldvinsson wrote the show, with Arnór Pálmi Arnarsson and Tiago Alvarez Marques directing. About Premium Content is on international distribution ahead of a 2025 launch on Síminn and Rtp.

“As we ramp up our slate of international co-productions, we could not ask for better partners on Cold Haven than Spi and About Premium Content,” said Andri Ómarsson, executive producer and CEO of Glassriver. “It is a series that merges the stunning landscapes of Vestmannaeyjar with the vibrant culture of Lisbon. This crime thriller is a testament to the power of international collaboration.”

Ómarsson added Síminn and Rtp “as broadcasters have been fundamental for the project and we appreciate their involvement.”

Glassriver’s slate includes eight-episode drama As Long As We Live, medical drama Fractures and Black Sands, which was selected for a world premiere at Berlinale and has been commissioned for further seasons.

Birkir Agustsson, VP of Media at Síminn, said the series “perfectly aligns with our commitment to bringing high-quality, compelling stories to our viewers,” adding: “Partnering with Glassriver and Spi on this international co-production allows us to deliver a visually striking and emotionally engaging crime thriller that will resonate with audiences both in Iceland and abroad.”

“We believe that what drew us to this story is also what sparked the interest of Rtp in Portugal and Síminn in Iceland, as well as the French-origin international distributor About Premium Content,” said Pedro Lopes, executive producer and Content Director at Spi. “The work process has been challenging, but it is a great pleasure to have as partners an experienced and creative production company like Glassriver, with whom we have built a relationship of trust, mutual respect, and deep friendship.”

Spi is known as Netflix’s first original production in Portugal, Glória. Also on its slate is Motel Valkirias, for Rtp, TV Galicia and HBO in Portugal and Spain and the series Vanda, which is distributed by Legendary.

Rtp’s José Fragoso added the co-production was “unprecedented and unique” co-production.

“In recent years, Rtp has been involved in the production of international fiction projects, in collaboration with partners in Spain, Brazil, or France, but the series Cold Haven opens a new path of collaboration, this time with a geographically distant region from our country, but one that is highly relevant in the production of quality fiction.

“The Nordic countries are a global reference in the audiovisual sector, and this co-production with Rtp will be a unique opportunity for Portuguese teams – writers, actors, directors, and producers – to share knowledge and experiences with Icelandic professionals. The result will undoubtedly be an exciting thriller, filmed in two countries with radically different, yet equally inspiring, atmospheres.”...

In one of its major recent scripted pick-ups, Zdf Studios has acquired international distribution rights to “Lume,” an eco thriller set against the building crisis of endemic wildfires on the northern Portugal-Spain border which is devastating its countryside.

The production-distribution powerhouse of one of Europe’s biggest public broadcaster powerhouses, Zdf Studios is bringing “Lume” to market at this week’s Mipcom trade fair.

The Zdf pick-up is just the latest sign of interest from international companies and institutions in “Lume.” Warner Bros. Discovery’s platform Max will stream the series in Spain and Portugal, airing simulcasting with Rtp and Televisión de Galicia (Tvg), the public broadcasters of Portugal and Galicia, Spain’s North-West region.

“Lume” was also one of nine E.U. series which won co-financing this June in the second round of the Council of Europe’s pilot program for Series Co-Production Support. The grants target high-quality productions.

The Portuguese TV fiction sector is experiencing growth as it garners international visibility through co-productions and alliances with streamers and foreign broadcasters.

With a small domestic market – some 10 million inhabitants – Portuguese TV production is making a virtue of necessity. The region possesses a diversity of TV fiction offerings, ranging from commercial telenovelas to an increasing number of premium TV dramas, and is rapidly opening up to international partnerships.

In 2015, local indie producers got into TV fiction series via public broadcaster Rtp, a driving force behind the sector. That was then followed by private TV operators and later by global streamers.

“Portugal has changed a lot in the last few years,” says José Eduardo Moniz, general manager at Tvi, the country’s top private broadcaster.

“The transposition into Portugal of the European Union’s Audiovisual and Media Services Directive created the conditions for investment in local production,” argues Pedro Lopes, content...

Brazil’s Boutique Filmes, producer of “3%,” the first Netflix non English-language series to break out abroad, is linking to Portugal’s SPi (“Glória”) to produce “Seven Women,” a reimagining of Brazilian Letícia Wierzchowski’s novel which yielded one of the biggest hits in Brazilian TV history: Globo’s “A Casa das Sete Mulheres,” sold to over 80 countries.

Globo’s telenovela had 51 episodes; Boutique and SPi’s rolls off this huge IP but weighs in as an eight-part historical drama.

Boutique Filmes produced Netflix’s first Brazilian series, “3%,” which ran to four seasons, and notably 2020’s “Omniscient” and Netflix’s first Brazilian true crime “Elize Matsunaga: Once Upon a Crime.”

Launched in 2017 by Sptv to create international co-productions and titles for streaming services, SPi produced Portugal’s first Netflix original series “Glória,” plus “Codex 632,” with Globoplay and Rtp, and “Vanda,” with La Panda and Legendary.

Boutique Filmes is...

Exclusive: Crime heist drama series Vanda is headed to Hulu. The U.S. streamer will be the exclusive SVOD home to the series, an international co-production from Legendary, indie producer SPi and Spain’s La Panda.

The deal also marks a continued expansion of Legendary’s international TV business, with Apple TV+s recent acquisition of Legendary-produced Drops of God, a series set in the world of fine wine based on a Japanese manga property. Legendary Television, Dynamic Television, France Televisions and Hulu Japan produced in partnership with Adline Entertainment.

It was previously announced that Vanda had been picked up by Canal+ Group for its channel Polar+ in France, by Lionsgate+ in Brazil and by Special Broadcasting Service (Sbs) in Australia. Vanda is also available in Portugal via the SVOD platform Opto/Sic, where it began airing in March 2022 and was recently nominated for an Academia de Cinema Sophia Award...

Set in Costa da Caparica, Portugal, amidst the 2008 economic crisis, “Vanda” – which screened at Berlin Film Festival’s European Film Market – tells the true-to-life story of distressed hairdresser turned unlikely criminal Dulce Caroço.

Our titular character, played by Gabriella Barros[/link] (“Al Berto”), is introduced as she lies on the floor, vacant-faced, smoking a cigarette. Moments later, we see her doused in disguise, a blond wig and oversized sunglasses.

In this hour-long, crime-heist episodic, created by Patrícia Müller (“Madre Paula”) and directed by Simão Cayatte (“A Viagem”), Vanda goes from surviving to destitute in a matter of scenes. Her beauty salon seats sit largely empty. Her deadbeat husband is out of work and has used up all of her money, leaving bills unpaid and the bank breathing down her neck. Desperate to provide for her children, she resolves to turn their lives around by robbing a bank.

The EFM preview of this co-production between Legendary Television,...