Red Arrow Studios International is launching a varied slate of new, premium scripted content at this year’s Mipcom. New dramas titles include While the Men Are Away (8 x 30’), a bold, new revisionist comedy drama series from Australia-based production company Arcadia; among others.
Also Those Who Stayed (6 x 30’), a heartfelt and heartwarming anthology series from FILM.UA Group in coproduction with SVT (Sweden), YLE (Finland), NRK (Norway); and Nordic drama Descendants (6 x 45’) from Polarama, Freyja Filmworks, Projects and Lunanime in coproduction with The Lumière Group. The titles will headline the company’s MIPCOM scripted slate, which will also feature the upcoming second season of hilarious comedy drama Kid Sister (S2: 5 x 30’, total episodes: 10 x 30’), produced by Greenstone TV.
While the Men Are Away, which features a diverse cast of up-and-coming talent led by Michela De Rossi (The Many Saints of Newark) launches on SBS (Australia) later this month. This irreverent, wry, and witty dramedy set in Australia during World War II, views the experience through the eyes of women left behind on the home front…who suddenly find themselves running the show after being excluded from power.
Those Who Stayed is a unique drama anthology series for our time, inspired by true events which happened in Kyiv in the first few weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. As the brutal war got underway, every second person left Kyiv. Yet every second person remained. These are their stories – variously moving, funny, sad, stark, unsettling, and uplifting.
Descendants – set to air on Siminn (Iceland) – is an intriguing, character-driven drama that tells the story of a dysfunctional Icelandic family through the exploration of universal themes such as greed, sibling rivalry, loyalty and responsibility.
Other series launching at MIPCOM include gritty crime drama Soon Comes Night (6 x 60’), produced by Ochre Moving Pictures for Netflix (Africa) and SABC, set against the unique backdrop of post-Apartheid South Africa; the inventive, dark comedy drama Miles from Nowhere (6 x 30’), created by award-winning journalist and writer Mohamed Hassan, and produced by The Gibson Group with Homegrown Pictures for Sky Originals (NZ); and uproarious and uplifting pregnancy comedy Double Parked (8 x 30’), produced by Kevin & Co for Warner Bros Discovery (New Zealand).
Rounding out the slate are short form titles from SBS (Australia) including raucous dramedy A Beginner’s Guide to Grief (6 x 12’), produced by Kojo Studios; and intriguing comedy-noir Appetite (6 x 10’ or 1 x 60′), produced by Fell Swoop Productions and Photoplay, which had its world premiere at Canneseries earlier this year. The inimitable coming-of-age comedy drama from creator and star Simone Nathan (Our Flag Means Death), Kid Sister also returns for its sophomore season – set to air on TVNZ later this year.
Tim Gerhartz, Managing Director, Red Arrow Studios International, said: ‘In While the Men Are Away, Arcadia have produced a fun and feisty series that boldly reimagines experiences of war from the perspective of those so often left out of history; while Those Who Stayed is an authentic and undeniably timely drama that champions the voices of Ukrainian filmmakers speaking to their experience, and the everyday reality of the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine; the dark and ironic Descendants, meanwhile, explores universal themes through the lens of a dysfunctional family drama. While all utterly unique, these titles are a natural fit for our slate of premium scripted content, that showcases an array of diverse voices from around the world and amplifies a range of experiences. We’re incredibly excited to present them to partners at MIPCOM 2023’.
