Anonymous Content, Federation Entertainment launch joint venture

Filmmaker Eran Riklis on set

CONTENT LONDON: US-based entertainment studio Anonymous Content and European studio Federation Entertainment have partnered to launch a joint venture and set their first multilingual coproduction.

The new France-based entity, Anonymous/Federation, is geared toward developing and producing TV and film projects for both French and global markets.

The joint venture will be led by Dawn Olmstead and David Levine for Anonymous Content and Pascal Breton, Lionel Uzan and Patrick Wachsberger for Federation. MD of the new company has not yet been announced.

The launch, announced on day one of Content London, comes as Anonymous Content pushes into international markets, and joins its other international studios AC Nordic, AC Brazil and Chapter One in the UK. The same is also true for Federation, which launched an LA-based management and production company this summer.

The first project developed under the Anonymous/Federation banner is The Abduction of Yossele Schumacher, a multilingual limited drama series created and written by Moshe Zonder (creator of Apple TV+ drama Tehran, and head writer of Netflix’s Fauda) and filmmaker Eran Riklis, whose film credits include Lemon Tree and The Syrian Bride.

Riklis is set to direct the project, with is structured as a coproduction between Anonymous Content, Federation, United King Films, Topia Communications and Eran Riklis Productions. The series will be in English, French, Yiddish and Hebrew.

The project is being overseen by Olmstead, Levine and Ryan Schwartz for Anonymous Content. United King Films owner Moshe Edery, Topia Communications owner Michael Sharfshtein and Riklis will oversee on behalf of the project’s Israeli partners.

Set in the early 1960s and based on a true story, the project revolves around the abduction of an eight-year-old Jewish boy by his ultra-Orthodox grandfather. This leads three women to clash over his fate and faith, and to a fierce conflict between the Israeli Mossad and the Orthodox community.

“Anonymous/Federation will allow us to expand our diverse storytelling and content creation whilst creating more global opportunities for the talent we represent. We are thrilled to kickstart this partnership with a riveting series that examines the intersection of family and faith,” said Olmstead in a statement.

“We’re also excited to increase our capacity to finance and produce major English-language European series with budgets comparable to major US series,” added Breton.