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All genres are welcome at Locarno’s co-development initiative Alliance 4 Development this year, from “dramas to dark comedies and thrillers,” says project manager Francesca Palleschi. But 11 projects from Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland do share some recurring themes.

“Identity, history’s enduring legacy, environmental concerns, family ties, the sense of belonging and displacement, societal dynamics. And the desperate search for attention,” Palleschi list.

In “I’m Not Here to Make Friends” by Julia Niemann, who recently enjoyed arthouse success with controversial Sundance premiere “Veni Vidi Vici” co-directed with Daniel Hoesl, she’s following Emmy, a contestant on a dating reality show. The film will be shot in English.

“Reality TV may be the lowest of all forms of entertainment. But when it’s done well, it tells of nothing less than the human condition, just like the movies. It’s a film about what we all want: Attention. Why...

Marco van Geffen, Mira Fornay among directors to develop TV series in new initiative.

Dutch filmmaker Marco van Geffen and Slovakia’s Mira Fornay will be among the directors participating in the first edition of the SeriesLab!.

The development lab – a joint initiative between the Paris-based Series Mania Coproduction Forum and the TorinoFilmLab – aims to support screenwriters and creators in the development of a new TV series.

Van Geffen, best known internationally for festival hits Among Us and In Your Name, will attend with a new crime series entitled Augustus with producer Fleur Winter.

Produced under the banner of Amsterdam-based Lemming Film, the eight-part series is described as a The Wire-style drama set against the backdrop of the Benelux drugs trafficking scene.

Slovakian director Mira Fornay, whose My Dog Killer about a teenage Nazi skinhead won the Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) in 2013, is bringing Carpathian Beast, a crime series...