Dutch Core shops teen microdrama, doc investigating Europe’s narco trade

A microdrama from the Netherlands aimed at tweens and teens and a documentary examining whether the Netherlands and Belgium are sliding towards narco state status are on distributor Dutch Core’s Mipcom slate.

Lorraine Joore

My Last Summer explores cancer through a raw, youth-led perspective and the story of a summer crush and first love.

The series was a hit in the Netherlands, generating 15 million views across YouTube and TikTok by using a digital-first format to make a challenging topic accessible and spark conversation among younger audiences, Dutch Core said.

Dutch Core is the international sales company of NPO, the umbrella organisation for Dutch public broadcasting, and also acts as a sales agent for a growing number of Dutch independent producers, as well as for VRT, the Flemish public broadcaster.

Elsewhere, The Drug Delta: The Road to a Narco State is a documentary series fronted by investigative journalists Sinan Can and Rudi Vranckx.

Tracing global trade routes from South American cartels to European ports, the series explores international organised crime networks and their impact on local security, youth recruitment and democratic institutions.

The Dutch Core slate explores subjects ranging from organised crime and war to childhood poverty, mental health and illness, alongside stories of nature, resilience, first love and finding your place in the world.

Also among the Dutch and Flemish programming being brought to Cannes by Dutch Core are the historical docudrama The Great Offensive, about the Allied liberation of Western Europe in the Second World War, and coming-of-age miniseries Those Left Behind.

The latter series has been acquired by YLE in Finland and NRK in Norway and tells the story of an 11-year-old boy whose summer plans collapse when his mother can no longer afford a holiday. Left behind in his village, he meets other children in similar circumstances, finding friendship, resilience and belonging amid financial hardship.

Lorraine Joore, senior sales executive at Dutch Core, said: “We’re looking for stories that have a clear reason to exist. That might be an investigative documentary offering access to a world that audiences rarely see, a historical story that gives a new perspective on the past or a children’s series exploring something young audiences are experiencing themselves.”