As we look ahead to a new year, C21 Screenings has one final Hot Properties playlist for 2021, offering a varied and vibrant selection of shows from all over the world.

First up in this month’s Hot Properties playlist is the only Christmas fare on the slate, in the shape of movie Candy Cane Candidate from US cable network Lifetime. Shopped by LA’s MarVista Entertainment, the film stars Jacky Lai as a woman who returns to her hometown for Christmas to forget her disastrous campaign for city council. Seeking a return to local politics, she finds herself up against her high school rival, and their competition turns to attraction as election day approaches.

Two science dramas make it on to the list, the first being Finnish series Next of Kin, which began filming in September. Made for Elisa Viihde Viaplay, the new venture between the Scandinavian streamers, and sold by US distributor A+E Global Content Sales, the series investigates genetic tampering as a psychologist attempts to recover her stolen DNA and uncovers something that could change the course of the human race.

Looking ahead to the year 2047, German series Exit – #1NFIN1TY presents a society where our loved ones never truly leave us, taking the form of holograms and artificial intelligence. The movie focuses on the three entrepreneurs who develop the tech, with themes of love, loss and greed. Germany’s Sommerhaus Filmproduktion has made the film, with Bavaria Media International distributing.

Another 90-minute film on the playlist is BBC One drama The Trick, starring Jason Watkins as real-life climatologist Professor Philip Jones. In 2009, Jones’s email was hacked and reports emerged that the emails contained evidence that climate change research had been faked, subjecting the professor to a barrage of hate. Sales are handled by UK distributor Abacus Media Rights.

Period dramas this month include Spanish daily drama Two Lives, splitting timelines between past and present. In the modern day, a woman is bored of her life in Madrid when she hears from a dying man claiming to be her real father. When her mother confirms it, she visits his house and discovers diaries belonging to her grandmother telling a tale of travels in Africa decades ago. The series is distributed by France’s StudioCanal.

Travelling further back in time, to the 1920s, UK drama Hotel Portofino is an ITV series set in Italy as Mussolini and fascism are on the rise. Set to be released next year, the six-parter has already been bought by PBS in the US and stars Natascha McElhone (Ronin) as a British woman sent by her father to set up a hotel in Italy. Germany’s Beta Film is handling sales.

Crime is, as ever, prevalent among C21Screenings’ Hot Properties, this time mixed with period drama. The second season of UK/Austrian series Vienna Blood, shopped by Red Arrow Studios International, is a set in 1900s Vienna, where cultures and ideas collide in the city’s cafes and opera houses.

The Madame Blanc Mysteries was originally broadcast on Channel 5 in the UK but has since been sold to Acorn TV in the US and is also available on Apple TV. Sally Lindsay plays an antiques dealer who sets off to France to deal with her husband’s tragic death, only to discover that the town she moves to is hiding secrets. US-based AMC Studios is handling international sales.

Another female-led crime series is available from global distributor Banijay Rights. A flawed Finnish detective nursing failed dreams of being a lawyer and wanting to start a family must also deal with her job as head of the local homicide unit. The show, titled Detective Maria Kallio, is based on Leena Lehtolainen’s Maria Kallio book series.

Irvine Welsh’s Crime, meanwhile, is a gritty drama from UK distributor Cineflix Rights. Based on novels by the Trainspotting author, it is set in a dangerous world and the troubled mind of a police detective, who struggles with a mental breakdown while carrying out criminal investigations.

For literary crime stories, however, sometimes there is only one author necessary. Agatha Christie’s Hjerson is the first TV adaptation based on the fictional detective from Christie’s fictional writer Ariadne Oliver. The eight-part meta drama, set in Sweden and Finland, streamed on Swedish platform C More in August.

Next up is UK event series Showtrial, a five-part thriller from the producers of Bodyguard and Vigil. Airing during November on the BBC and distributed by ITV Studios, the show is about the media storm created when an entitled teenager is accused of murdering a university classmate.

Mobile 101, from Finland’s Rabbit Films, is a drama covering phone pioneer Nokia’s business in the 1980s and 90s. It describes how engineers, lawyers, executives and countless other employees, through their passionate work and inventions, enabled Nokia to become the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer.

In factual, the crime genre is taking an unusual twist for December. Australian distributor Escapade Media is offering Killer Soundtrack, a documentary about bands and artists that have written music about horrific crimes, some of which they witnessed.

Sticking down under, Wildlife Diaries Australia is being shopped by Germany’s Autentic Distribution. The series visits animal and wildlife sanctuaries across the country to showcase the conservation efforts going on there as natural habitats shrink.

Yet more Aussie antics are on this month’s playlist, with the second season of Aussie Bull Catchers on sale from the UK’s DCD Rights. The show follows cattle king Kurt Hammer as he and his crew try to wrangle wild bulls for mating in a dangerous but lucrative industry.

Canadian distributor Blue Ant International is bringing History by the Numbers to C21Screenings, from its local prodco Saloon Media. The fast-paced documentary series takes a dive into the extraordinary and often overlooked numbers that have created our world’s history over 20 episodes.

Beyond Rights also has a factual title on the playlist, Motor Mythbusters, in which former MythBusters presenter Tory Belleci, along with mechanic Faye Hadley and engineer Bisi Ezerioha, extend the format to include car-related pop culture, viral videos and urban legends.

From Scratch comes a Hat Trick format that sees actor and adventurer David Moscow team up with friends from around the world to hunt, gather, forage, fish, grow, then prepare and cook a meal. The show has had two 10-episode seasons to date and has aired on A+E Networks-owned FYI.

Another culinary show is Wonder Food – From Fiction to Reality. The Japanese show, created by Chukyo TV Broadcasting, challenges the most creative chefs in Japan to bring alive amazing dishes spotted in fictional works ranging from manga to fairy tales.

Another show focusing on Japan is travel series Lovely Shabby Lodges, distributed by Hokkaido Broadcasting. The travelogue show takes urban socialites to unique and eccentric accommodations in remote areas of Japan and sees how they adapt to unfamiliar conditions.

Miriam & Alan: Lost in Scotland, from the UK’s Passion Distribution, is a format that sees Hollywood actors Miriam Margolyes and Alan Cumming get cosy in a mobile home as they roll back the decades and return to their Scottish roots. The show is currently airing on UK pubcaster Channel 4.

Another doc is Queen Elizabeth II – The Fateful Years, from Germany’s LooksFilm. The modern history show looks at the Queen’s legacy as the UK’s longest-ruling monarch and examines how she, as a person and a head of state, is torn between many private and public issues.

In the world of gameshows, French format District Z promises a fear factor like no other. The show makes celebrities undertake a series of challenges inside an arena filled with zombies and other scary sights, in order to solve a puzzle and reach the final challenge. The show is distributed by Sony Pictures Television Formats.

In kids’ content, Little Lunch is a series made in 2015 by the Australian Children’s Television Foundation. The mockumentary comedy series takes place during 15 highly significant minutes of a child’s life: snack time in the primary school playground. Each self-contained episode revolves around, and is told by, six diverse and distinctly identifiable children.

Finally, kids’ specialist distributor Cake is selling Mush-Mush & the Mushables, an animated series about a crew of fungi that debuted in 2020 over 48 episodes. As tiny guardians of the forest, Mush-Mush and his friends go on all sorts of adventures and discover plenty about themselves along the way.

That’s it for Hot Properties December 2021, see you in 2022!

As we look ahead to a new year, C21 Screenings has one final Hot Properties playlist for 2021, offering a varied and vibrant selection of shows from all over the world.

First up in this month’s Hot Properties playlist is the only Christmas fare on the slate, in the shape of movie Candy Cane Candidate from US cable network Lifetime. Shopped by LA’s MarVista Entertainment, the film stars Jacky Lai as a woman who returns to her hometown for Christmas to forget her disastrous campaign for city council. Seeking a return to local politics, she finds herself up against her high school rival, and their competition turns to attraction as election day approaches.

Two science dramas make it on to the list, the first being Finnish series Next of Kin, which began filming in September. Made for Elisa Viihde Viaplay, the new venture between the Scandinavian streamers, and sold by US distributor A+E Global Content Sales, the series investigates genetic tampering as a psychologist attempts to recover her stolen DNA and uncovers something that could change the course of the human race.

Looking ahead to the year 2047, German series Exit – #1NFIN1TY presents a society where our loved ones never truly leave us, taking the form of holograms and artificial intelligence. The movie focuses on the three entrepreneurs who develop the tech, with themes of love, loss and greed. Germany’s Sommerhaus Filmproduktion has made the film, with Bavaria Media International distributing.
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