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Exclusive: With cozy crime still red hot, French drama Curious By Nature is launching internationally.

The series follows Fred, a seasoned war reporter with a fiery temper, played by César Award-nominated Florence Pernel (Three Colours: Blue).

Fred is now working in local news. When her assignments lead her to uncover criminal cases that have been swept under the rug, she is compelled to dig deeper. Accompanied by her clumsy cameraman Manu (Jean-Baptiste Shelmerdine), colorful investigations ensue.

France TV Distribution is giving the series, which runs to three 90-minute instalments, a Mip London launch. In France it is known as Enquête Parallèle and plays on pubcaster France Télévisions’ France 3 channel.

The cast also includes Jessyrielle Massengo, Macha Méril and Frédérique Tirmont. Stéphanie Pillonca and Christophe Paturange direct from Armelle Patron and Emmanuel Patron’s scripts. Brain Productions makes the series.

Curious By Nature will be part of France TV Distribution...

“Oderbruch,” the second series in a first-look TV deal between CBS Studios and Berlin-based Syrreal Entertainment, triumphed at Cadiz’s 2nd South Intl. Series Festival on Thursday, scooping its best fiction series award.

A brooding mystery series, it kicks in with the grisly discovery of the bodies and bones of 248 murder victims left in a pile in a field in set in the desolate marshes of Germany’s northern border with Poland. World premiering at the Munich Film Festival, series is recognized in its ambition as one of the biggest this year in Germany.

The other major winner in scripted was “Joan,” sold by All3International, an Audience Award winner which also took best screenplay. It stars Sophie Turner who is “thrilling in The CW’s tense and engaging jewel thief drama,” Variety announced in its review.

Sophie Turner in “Joan”

Best non-fiction series went to “On Thin Ice: Putin vs.

At this year’s Mipcom, France TV Distribution will launch international distribution of Tetra Media Fiction’s sci-fi family drama “Annwyn The Otherworld” (originally titled “Anaon”).

Created by screenwriter Bastien Dartois in collaboration with Sylvain Caron and Elsa Vasseur and produced by Alexandre Boyer and Antoine Szymalka for Tetra Media Fiction, the series is currently in production. Delivery is set for Q1 2025 with domestic broadcast rights belonging to Prime Video and France TV.

Dartois co-wrote the show with Sylvain Caron, Elsa Vasseur and Marine Maugrain Legagneur. David Hourrègue, who has helmed episodes of “Rivages,” “Germinal” and Skam France,” directs.

“Annwyn The Otherworld” is a six-part series that follows police chief Max, who oversees a small town in Brittany. There, he takes on several new and strange cases, including the disappearance of a teenage girl and a suspected serial abuser. The challenging investigation is made more difficult given Max’s home life.

Unspooling in Cadiz over Oct. 25-31, the South International Series Festival is a bellwether on trends and highlights for the current season. What could be some of its star performers? Following, 10 titles to track, which also often say something about the way the market is going.

“The Big Jump” (Atresmedia International Sales)

One of Atresmedia’s biggest bets at Mipcom, a biopic series about the rise to Olympic Gold Medals at Sydney and Athens of Spanish gymnast Gervasio Deferr and, in a second timeline, his descent into drugs and alcohol, incapable of accepting failure in competition and lost when retired. Oscar Casas plays Deferr, with “Gangs of Galicia” helmer Roger Gual directs. An Atresplayer Original Series, bowing on Nov. 17.

“La Favorita 1922” (Mediterraneo)

From “Grand Hotel” through “Velvet” and “Cable Girls,” Ramon Campos’ Studiocanal j.v. Bambu Producciones has carved out its international reputation, creating modern gender-agenda melodramas that make...

Dotted with history and marked by weathered beauty, the Normandy coast will stay carved into the TV landscape long after buyers depart this week’s Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Le Havre.

With this year marking the 80th anniversary Operation Overlord, the coast will play an evident starring role in historical docs from across the globe, all while local and international productions continue to embark with an eye on rugged locations.

Produced by Mediawan shingle Cc&c and sold by France TV Distribution, the long-running “Apocalypse” doc brand marked this 80-year occasion with “Apocalypse: D-Day,” a two-part series that brought archival material to life in vivid color. The production outfit used tools developed in-house to colorize and remaster black and white footage, mixing manual processing with AI assistance to lend the footage an awesome impact.

“You can’t just put pretty colors everywhere,” says France TV Distribution’s Julia Schulte. “Everything was linked to historical research,...

Exclusive: Ahead of its bow at Series Mania, French sci-fi drama Sea Shadows been picked up for distribution.

France TV Distribution has acquired rights to the show, which is from Mintee Studio and Thalie Images and is for the sale house’s stablemate, France 2.

The series, originally known as Rivages, will follow a marine scientist who returns to her hometown of Fécamp to research a mysterious shipwreck and finds mysterious phenomena occurring at sea that are stopping fishermen from doing their jobs. She soon realizes that an underwater presence is about to upset the fragile balance between man and nature.

The project is one of several that were selected for Unifrance’s Coming Next From France presentation at next month’s Series Mania in Lille.

Fleur Geffrier, Guillaume Labbé, Thierry Godard, Jean-Marc Barr, Younès Boucif, Jonas Bloquet, Anne Loiret, Lucia Passaniti and Olivia Cote star in the six-part ecological thriller series,...