Hot Properties April 2024
With April comes MipTV – for one last time at least – and a new playlist of programmes for C21’s Digital Screenings. As international distributors set up shop in Cannes to showcase their latest programmes, you can check out the shows here.
This month’s Hot Properties playlist comes as the curtain goes up on the final outing for MipTV in Cannes – and distributors have plenty of content to shop to buyers around the world. This month we highlight some of those shows that are available to screen via C21’s Digital Screenings portal.
The playlist includes seven dramas, two comedies, six documentaries, two unscripted entertainment formats, a music performance and a cartoon.
We start with the dramas, which include Money Shot (Federation Studios), a series that follows a washed-up porn actress who starts her own production company to make feminist erotic films, while This Town (Banijay) tells the story of a group of people drawn into the world of ska and two-tone music, which exploded from the grass roots of Coventry and Birmingham in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
From Japan comes The Winning Script (Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation), about an attorney whose friend is wrongfully convicted of murder so he teams up with a mysterious scriptwriter to clear her name. From Germany comes The Country Doctor (Red Arrow Studios International), which follows a doctor who seeks a fresh start in a picturesque Bavarian village with her daughter, without knowing it is home to her former partner, and comedy-drama The Zweiflers (ZDF Studios), which centres on a family patriarch who wants to sell his delicatessen when he is confronted with his past in Frankfurt’s red-light district.
More German drama comes with TV movie Souls Without Walls (Bavaria Media International), about an Olympic figure skater who seeks a 1994 comeback repeat of her East German glory days as multiple world champion, while another TV movie, A Royal Christmas Holiday (Tesera Entertainment), follows an ambitious reporter looking for her big break and an impetuous prince sent to New York on assignment whose worlds collide during the holidays.
More laffs can be had with comedies The Orchestra (StudioCanal), which offers an unusual and colourful arena centred around the Copenhagen Symphony Orchestra, and White Fever, (ABC Commercial), which is about a cocky Korean-Australian with a love of hairy white guys who tries to reprogramme her libido.
For factual buyers, check out Ramses the Great (Cineflix Rights), a doc that features cutting-edge science and unique access to the latest archaeological discoveries to discover the real Ramses, king of ancient Egypt, while The Jury: Murder Trial (Blue Ant Media) is described as “a ground-breaking experiment that asks profound questions about how we administer justice – by putting the jury system itself on trial.”
Meanwhile, Original Sin: My Son the Killer (Abacus Media Rights) documents the murder of Andrea Venter by Gerhard Jansen van Vuuren, who then went on the run from South Africa to Brazil, while Democracy on Trial (PBS Distribution) investigates the roots of the criminal cases against President Trump stemming from his 2020 election loss.
The Sun (Autentic Distribution) examines our nearest star, which is the miracle that makes life on Earth possible but also its greatest danger. Rounding out the factual slate, Monty Don’s Spanish Gardens (All3Media International) sees the UK gardening icon visit some the country’s cutting-edge modern gardens created by a new wave of Spanish designers.
For those seeking more formatted entertainment, this month’s playlist includes Seven Year Switch (A+E Media Group), which explores couples’ restlessness at the seven-year mark through ‘switch therapy,’ meaning they swap partners for at least two weeks. Meanwhile, VS School – The Ultimate Hide & Seek (Fuji Television Network) is described as “a large-scale hide and seek against a whole high school, as celebrities hide in life-like props and students must find all the hiders in time to win the prize.
In the performance genre, we have Chicago & Friends Live (DCD Rights) which sees legendary rock band Chicago perform with a spectacular line-up of guest artists, playing classic tracks from their seminal debut album Chicago Transit Authority.
Wrapping up the playlist for another month, Idefix & the Indomitables (Mediawan Rights) is billed as the first TV series spin-off from the world famous Asterix comics, with a second season coming soon.
That’s all for April, stay tuned for more Hot Properties next month!
