Balaton Brigade achieved huge success in Berlinale-Series Mania Project Exchange

Cold War spy drama “Balaton Brigade” has been selected to pitch at Series Mania in Lille as part of the Berlinale-Series Mania Project Exchange.

The Hungarian drama series “Balaton Brigade” has emerged as the winner of the Series Mania Project Exchange Award at the exclusive Berlinale Co-Pro Series pitching event, which, as every year, is organized by the European Film Market’s Berlinale Co-Production Market.

As we have wrote before in our interview with the Joyrider, they told that “Balaton Brigade” selection itself was a huge thing.

The international audience invited to the pitch had an opportunity to participate in one-on-one meetings with the creators of the projects. Many significant companies had already signed up for “Balaton Brigade” and we had hoped they could talk to them about our other series as well. This is a very promising opportunity, they said earlier.

They also mentioned that if it will win, the success is thanks to The “Balaton Brigade’s” selling package. Eszter Angyalosy mentioned, that the pilot screenplay and the series concept, made by Gábor Krigeler with the other two creators of the series, Balázs Lengyel and Balázs Lovas, was a very strong, convincing material. But besides that, serving, packaging, that is, the marketing part of the project is also very convincing. Also, Ildikó Enyedi, an internationally recognized director joined us. Thus, this package is internationally understandable and functional, I think that’s the reason for the warm reception.

Produced by Budapest-based outfits Joyrider and Film Force, “Balaton Brigade” is an eight-part historical spy drama set in summer 1986, during the Cold War. The series follows the leader of a small Stasi unit that is stationed at the so-called Hungarian Sea: the “Balaton Brigade”. The unit is tasked with observing the East German holidaymakers to prevent them from meeting their relatives from West Germany and being infected with imperialist notions or even attempting to escape to the other side of the Iron Curtain. At the same time, the leader of the unit is faced with many challenges of his own. Hoping to protect his family from the East German doping machine, he plans to flee to the West.

Under the terms of the partnership, now in its seventh year, one project pitched at Series Mania at Lille is invited to pitch again at the ongoing Berlin Series Market’s Co-Pro Series (March 1-5). In return, Series Mania invites a Berlinale project to pitch in Lille as part of the Series Mania Forum (Aug. 30-Sept. 1).

Edith Károly-Rajki

Sources: variety.com, cineuropa.org