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Directed by Bobby Boermans, known for his work on crime series like The Golden Hour and Mocro Maffia, “¡Hostage” plunges viewers into a harrowing recreation of the real-life hostage situation that paralyzed Amsterdam’s Leidseplein.

This is a tense thriller, unfolding over a few intense hours, with its power rooted in the editing and pacing. The script is solid, analyzing the situation from multiple perspectives and moving swiftly within the genre.

It’s entertaining, fast-paced, and well-produced – the perfect kind of film for a Friday night.

The Real-Life Amsterdam Incident

A 27-year-old man, identified as Abdel Rahman Akkad, dressed in camouflage clothing and armed with multiple firearms, entered the crowded Apple Store in Amsterdam’s Leidseplein. Akkad, reportedly an employee of a supermarket chain who used his work truck to get there, quickly escalated the situation, firing shots and claiming to have a bomb vest.

While many customers and employees managed to escape or hide,...

Rtl+ Germany has acquired exclusive rights to the Dutch hit crime series “Mocro Maffia: Gangs of Amsterdam” from Amsterdam-based distributor Skoop Media for its streaming platform.

Belgian platform Streamz has also secured rights to “Mocro Maffia’s” latest – and final – sixth season, along with re-licensing the series’ previous five seasons as part of a larger agreement.

Furthermore, Streamz also acquired exclusive rights to the feature film “Taxi,” a spin-off from the series, as well as Season 2 of the thriller series “Sleepers” – about a corrupt cop forced to confront his own loyalty and morality – and the true crime documentary mini-series “The Hash King, My Father’s Story.”

“Skoop Media is honored to distribute the ‘Mocro Maffia’ universe worldwide and so far, it has been an amazing journey throughout all six seasons,” its CEO Pim van Collem told Variety.

“What started with Achmed Akkabi’s vision, an unfortunate but very realistic view...

Italy’s TorinoFilmLab, the international film and TV series incubator linked to the Torino Film Festival, has unveiled the nine projects selected for its 2024 SeriesLab workshop dedicated to fostering production of innovative TV shows from around the world.

The projects, which are in the early development stage, hail from 13 different countries: Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Egypt, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States.

For the second year in a row, SeriesLab is being led by Hungarian screenwriter and former HBO Hungary development executive Eszter Angyalosy.

“This year, once again, we selected nine original TV series ideas from passionate creatives with unique points of view,” Angyalosy said in a statement. She added that the projects aim to challenge preconceived notions pertaining to “genre, storytelling tradition and the mindset of their future audiences.”

Angyalosy will be working with tutors Filip Kasperaszek (Poland), Kirsten Ittershagen (Germany), Cyril Tysz...

Studiocanal has sold Storytellers and Dutch FilmWorks action thriller Invasion to Well Go USA, which has acquired all North American rights to the film.

Studiocanal said it has also closed deals for the Bobby Boermans directed film in Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, without naming the companies involved.

The film is set in the aftermath of a surprise attack on the Caribbean islands of Curaçao and Aruba, autonomous countries in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, by a neighbouring dictatorship. As the conflict rapidly escalates, three young marines must step up and take action.

Boermans, whose credits...

Well Go USA has landed North American rights for Dutch action thriller Invasion about a daring military operation in the wake of a hostile attack on the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curacao.

Studiocanal, which is handling international rights, said it was also in the process of closing deals to Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

The movie is a co-produced by Amsterdam-based Storytellers and Studiocanal company Dutch Film Works.

Director Bobby Boermans (Mocro Maffia, Goldon Hour) reunites with Storytellers having previously collaborated on the drama series High-Flyers teaming up with The Royal Dutch Airforce.

The drama unfolds in the wake of an unexpected attack on the Dutch overseas territories of Curaçao and Aruba by a neighbouring dictatorship.

As the conflict rapidly escalates, the barracks in Aruba come under fire and the airspace is closed, but the Dutch ambassador is yet to be evacuated. Three young marines...

Two is better than one.

Amsterdam-based Skoop Media has closed a deal with Walter Presents on “Evilside” and “Sleepers” for the U.K., Ireland, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The platform will have exclusive VOD rights in these territories.

“We can’t wait for our viewers to delve into these two phenomenal series,” enthused Walter Presents CEO Walter Iuzzolino.

“These titles are rich with suspense and filled with evocative worldly themes. Our foreign-language drama lovers should prepare for an exhilarating journey across Europe.”

Finnish offering “Evilside” – an Elisa Viihde original combining Live Action Role Play (Larp) with the legacy of Nordic Noir – kicks off with a brutal murder of a teenage boy in a small fishing village.

God-fearing local residents are quick to point fingers at outcast Johanna (Olivia Ainali) and she needs to prove her innocence. Luckily, detective Ulla Penttinen (Amira Khalifa) doesn’t need much convincing.

“There...

With the horrible specter of Covid still hanging over the world, the folks at the Frontières co-production market were a little concerned that their genre submissions would be heavily virus-centric.

However, they needn’t have worried. The lineup for the 2021 market, organized by the Fantasia International Film Festival in collaboration with Marché du Film – Festival de Cannes, features a wildly creative array of projects, including one about a telepathic serial killer cat, another about deportation and a deadly virus which kills white people, and yet another which puts a horrifying twist on the often harrowing experience of coming out.

“I am very happy that our lineup is not about Covid,” says Frontières executive director Annick Mahnert. “We did have a couple submissions on that theme, but overall people said no, we don’t have to write about this. It’s happening in real life, but we’ll find something else to talk about.

Among its slate of MipTV presentations, The Wit hosted its first-ever Fresh TV Young Adult Content. After the last series of in-person sessions hosted by The Wit at MipCom, the importance and influence of YA drama was unmistakable, inspiring this year’s MipTV dedicated session hosted by The Wit founder-ceo Virginia Mouseler.

“It’s our mission at The Wit to give our subscribers information and inspiration for creation and acquisition,” she said, explaining the new session’s inspiration.

“In the world of YA drama, ‘Euphoria’ is the reference for the genre,” she started, before noting that fans of the HBO super-series were left without a new season in 2020, leaving many to turn to Warner Bros’ “Generation,” similarly on HBO Max. Describe by Mouseler as a post-“Euphoria” series, “Generation” is far less tragic and far more tongue in cheek. It features a group of high-school students exploring and learning about their sexuality,...

Variety partnered with U.K.-based consultancy Ampere Analysis to delve into the top local and regional ad-supported and pay TV services that are competing with behemoths like Netflix and Amazon. For more, click here.

Germany is Europe’s leading SVOD market, with almost 34 million subscribers, according to Ampere Analysis. While Amazon and Netflix have

built up substantial followings in the country, Joyn Plus is the leading local rival, and it’s doubling down on upscale original local content as a means to close the gap. The platform is so far available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Joyn Plus is the pay tier of ad-supported streamer Joyn, a joint venture between German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 and Discovery. The Joyn platform launched just over a year ago, introducing Joyn Plus in November and recently folding ProSiebenSat.1’s existing SVOD platform Maxdome into the service.

Despite the strength of the global players, and...

Netflix has ordered Dutch original series “Dirty Lines,” about the rise of erotic phone lines in the late 80s.

The screenplay, inspired by Fred Saueressig’s book “06-Cowboys,” is written by Pieter Bart Korthuis and produced by Amsterdam-based production company Fiction Valley.

The series tells the story of young businessman Frank Stigter. After several unsuccessful attempts to start his own business, Frank sees his chance when the national telephone company Ptt introduces premium-rate numbers. With the help of his brother and sister and some dubious investors, he starts the first telecom sex company in Europe. What starts as a clumsy improvized experiment in their parents’ garage, rapidly develops into a multi-million dollar industry.

A statement from Netflix explains the background: “Set at the end of the Cold War, the series inspires a young generation to shake off the doomsday thinking of the ‘80s and focus on how to celebrate life to its fullest.

The Netherlands-based company Dutch Features has acquired a pair of action-packed series, “Rogue Justice” and “The Columnist,” in the run up to Mipcom.

“Rogue Justice,” produced by leading Dutch company Pupkin Film, is mainly set on the tropical island of Bonaire and revolves around two elite cops Willem (Dennis van de Ven) and Theo who go rogue as they follow a trail of a stolen work of art.

The three-part miniseries, which will also be available as a feature-length film, is currently in production for the Dutch public broadcaster Npo 3. “Rogue Justice” is expected to be delivered early 2020.

“The Columnist,” meanwhile, is a revenge thriller starring Katja Herbers (“West World”) as a columnist who continuously has to deal with threats and negative comments on her social media pages. One day, she has had enough and decides to hunt down on her trolls.

Currently in post, “The Columnist” is produced by...

Japan’s fastest-growing streaming platform U-next has acquired exclusive rights to popular Dutch series “Mocro Maffia” and mini-series “The Swell” from the Netherlands-based sales agent Dutch Features Global Entertainment.

Directed by Bobby Boermans (“App”) and Giancarlo Sanchez (“Horizon”), “Mocro Maffia” is a fiction series based on the popular book of the same name by journalists Wouter Laumans and Marijn Schrijver. The plot is inspired by the recent gang war between rival organized crime gangs operating in the Amsterdam underworld.

The show follows a young generation of gangsters who rule the streets in major European cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp. “Mocro Maffia” stars Moroccan-Dutch actors Achmed Akkabi and Walid Benmbarek (“Brothers”) and Dutch actor Daan Schuurmans (“Neighbors”).

“Mocro Maffia” bowed last year in the Netherlands on Rtl’s VOD platform Videoland by where 60% of all subscribers binge-watched the entire series on its debut weekend, making it Videoland’s number...

Netherlands-based sales agent Dutch Features has sold Rtl’s upcoming crime series “Mocro Maffia” to Maxdome, the streaming service of the 7Tv joint venture GmbH which boasts Germany’s largest online video library.

Maxdome has acquired the series for Germany and Austria. Several deals are currently in negotiations on the series which Dutch Features launched at Mipcom.

“Mocro Maffia” is a fiction series based on the popular book of the same name by journalists Wouter Laumans and Marijn Schrijver. The plot is inspired by the recent gang war between rival organized crime gangs operating in the Amsterdam underworld. The show follows a young generation of gangsters who rule the streets in major European cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp.

Directed by Bobby Boermans (“App”) and Giancarlo Sanchez (“Horizon”), the series boasts an ensemble cast headlined by renowned Moroccan-Dutch actors Achmed Akkabi and Walid Benmbarek (“Brothers”) and Dutch actor Daan Schuurmans (“Neighbors”).

Pim van Collem,...

Netherlands-based sales agent Dutch Features has acquired worldwide rights to Rtl’s upcoming crime series “Mocro Maffia” in the run-up to Mipcom.

“Mocro Maffia” is a fiction series based on the popular book of the same name by journalists Wouter Laumans and Marijn Schrijver. The plot is inspired by the recent gang war between rival organized crime gangs operating in the Amsterdam underworld.

Directed by Bobby Boermans (“App”) and Giancarlo Sanchez (“Horizon”), the series boasts an ensemble cast headlined by renowned Moroccan-Dutch actors Achmed Akkabi and Walid Benmbarek (“Brothers”) and Dutch actor Daan Schuurmans (“Neighbors”).

“After the breakthrough success of the Scandinavian thriller series in recent years, we are currently witnessing a growing international demand for the so-called ‘Dutch Noir’ drama series,” said Pim van Collem, CEO of Dutch Features. “We are thrilled to introduce the gripping and uncompromising story of the ‘Mocro Maffia’ – a young generation of hard-nosed gangsters...