Munich – Beta Film is bringing international star power to Cannes: Hollywood icon Andie MacDowell and award-winning author of Gomorrah, Roberto Saviano, will be presenting a new TV series at MIPCOM.

Andie MacDowell and her co-star Dylan Neal will introduce Cedar Cove to international buyers and journalists – their Hallmark series set in an idyllic North American coastal town.

The ambitious Sky Italia crime series Gomorrah takes the viewers to the dark and gritty streets of Naples. The high-level crime series is based on Roberto Saviano’s bestseller and the Cannes Grand Jury Prize winning feature film of the same name by Matteo Garrone.

Also making personal appearances at MIPCOM are the stars of the North American series Cracked, David Sutcliffe and Brooke Nevin. Further highlights of the new Beta Film line-up are the drama Sarajevo, which marks the centennial of the outbreak of World War I, as well as, in the family entertainment segment, the animated series The Adventures of the Young Marco Polo. 

Cedar Cove presents Andie MacDowell (Sex, Lies and Videotape, Short Cuts, Four Weddings and a Funeral) in her very first lead role in a TV series. The production (14 x 60′), based on the best-selling novels of Debbie Macomber, is currently scoring record ratings in the U.S. and is one of the most successful productions in Hallmark’s history. Show-runner is Carl Binder (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) for Orchard Road Production in co-production with Front Street Pictures/ Dan Wigutow and Unity, in association with Beta Film.

From Sky Italia, Cattleya and co-producer Beta Film comes one of the most anticipated new crime series of 2014, Gomorrah (12 x 60′), an intense drama that draws the viewer into the inner sanctum of organised crime in Naples, the Camorra. 

The series’ concept has its roots in Roberto Saviano’s critically-acclaimed best-selling novel of the same title (10 million copies worldwide); a shocking exposé of the Camorra, for which he conducted years of research and which triggered an unmatched reaction in Italy.

Stefano Sollima, helmer of the critically-acclaimed Sky Italia series Romanzo Criminale, serves as artistic director and directed six episodes. Award-winning directors Claudio Cupellini (A Quiet Life) and Francesca Comencini (The White Space) directed the remaining episodes. The series shot on location over thirty weeks in Naples, Rome, Milan, Ferrara, Ventimiglia and Barcelona.

Gomorrah is a co-production of Sky Cinema, Cattleya (Romanzo Criminale, Siberian Education), Fandango (feature film Gomorrah), La 7 and Beta Film.

Further highlights in Beta’s series portfolio are new seasons of Tom Fontana’s Copper (in total 23 x 60′, Cineflix Studios/ BBC America/ Shaw Media in association with Beta Film) with Franka Potente (Bourne Identity, Run, Lola, Run) and Tom Weston-Jones (World Without End), which is set in New York in the 1860s, as well as of the North American crime series about a special psychological police unit, Cracked (in total 21 x 60′, White Pine Pictures/ CBC/ Group M Entertainment in association with Beta Film) with David Sutcliffe (Private Practice, Gilmore Girls) and Brooke Nevin (Chicago Fire).

Two Golden Nymphs were awarded at the Monte Carlo TV Festival to the Spanish production Letter for Evita by the multiple Goya-award winner Augusti Villaronga (Black Bread), a true story about the visit of the Argentinean president’s charismatic wife to the Spanish dictator Franco in 1947 and her efforts to save the life of a female Spanish resistance fighter. Letter for Evita was produced by Televisión Española (TVE), Televisó de Catalunya (TVC) and Copia Cero Producciones in association with Beta Film.

The Adventures of the Young Marco Polo (26×25‘) is produced by MotionWorks, MDR/ ARD, YOWZA!Digital Inc. Canada, Melusine Productions, Magpie 6/ Media Entertainment /Monster Entertainment in association with Beta Film for Ki.Ka, BBC Canada and Irland’s RTE. Spooksville (26×30’) seems to be a great place to live – for the living, the dead and everything in between… The live action mystery adventure show is based on the book series by Christopher Pike and is produced by Springville Productions in association with Front Street Pictures and Jane Starz Productions in association with Beta Film.