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Zusammen mit den zu Paramount gehörenden Ananey Studios produziert Zdf Studios die auf Daniel Edelsons gleichnamigem Bestsellerroman basierende Serie „The Tea House on the Death Pass“.

Daniel Edelson, Autor der Buchvorlage zur Dramaserie „The Tea House on the Death Pass“, zu deren Schöpfern er zählt (Credit: Rachel Tine)

Zdf Studios und die zu Paramount Studios gehörenden Ananey Studios produzieren gemeinsam die achtteilige Dramaserie „The Tea House on the Death Pass“. Das gab Zdf Studios jetzt bekannt.

Basierend auf dem gleichnamigen Bestsellerroman erzählt die Serie die wahre Geschichte der Wanderer aus Dutzenden von Nationen, die am 14. Oktober 2014 in der Annapurna-Bergkette im Himalaya in einen Schneesturm geraten sind und Seite an Seite um ihr Leben kämpfen.

Journalist Daniel Edelson hatte seinerzeit über die Ereignisse berichtet und hat die Erlebnisse dabei in seinem Debütroman „The Tea House on the Death Pass“ einfließen lassen. Zusammen mit Ron Leshem und Amit Cohen zählt er auch zu den Schöpfern der Serie.

Exclusive: Peter Chernin’s North Road Company is returning to the Israeli TV market with a medical thriller starring Tehran’s Niv Sultan.

North Road has re-teamed with Israeli producer Sipur and local network Hot – its partners on juvenile prison series Bad Boy – for Heart of a Killer, the outfit’s second international co-pro. Endemol Shine Israel is also producing.

Now in principal photography, Heart of a Killer follows Dr. Dasi Nakash, played by Sultan, a promising transplant surgeon who turns to illicit organ harvesting after a desperate act to save a friend wronged by the hospital. This incident draws her into a whirlwind of moral dilemmas, patient rescues and conflicts with the underworld of the medical establishment.

The show is created by Liad Shoham, Gal Zaid (Valley of Tears) and Roni Yaddor, and directed by Evgeny Ruman (East Side).

Sultan is a big draw. She is best known for Apple TV+ hit Tehran,...

The Academy’s Visual Effects long list of 20 finalists were notified Thursday and the results shook up the Oscar race: Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” — considered by many to be the frontrunner — did not make the cut despite a dazzling display of practical, in-camera effects and digital compositing for the Trinity explosion, and particle simulations for the subatomic world shot in cloud tanks.

IndieWire reached out to Universal, Academy VFX branch members, and visual effect studio Dneg for comment, but no explanation was offered for the exclusion of “Oppenheimer.” However, sources speculated that the determining factor was the entire film included only 150 invisible VFX shots. Two other potential contributors: Nolan’s early comments about there being no CGI in “Oppenheimer,” and the pushback when very few Dneg artists were listed in the end credits.

Speaking of CGI, Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” was the surprise entry, given how hard it...

It was freezing cold. The altitude was 11,000 feet. There was the occasional avalanche. No cranes. No dollies. But by getting as close to the Andes’ Valley of Tears as possible, the site of the 1972 Uruguayan rugby team’s infamous crash, Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona (“The Impossible”), his producing partner Belén Atienza, and their cast and crew brought the dead back to life. Sixteen survivors walked away from that crash after 72 days. 42 died.

The Spanish entry for the Oscars, “The Society of the Snow”, is about the contract the living made: They offered their bodies to keep their friends alive after their deaths.

“The people in the plane, the people who went through that story, were offering their bodies to their friends, in case they need them,” said Bayona. “And in that idea, there is something transcendent because it’s this unconscious realization that you and I are the same thing.

Updated: Ron Leshem, creator of the original Israeli “Euphoria” and an exec producer on its U.S. version, has been added to Iberseries & Platino Industria’s conference strand – signalling a larger paradigm pivot at one of the biggest film-tv events in the Spanish-speaking world as it expands to encompass an ever more globalized international TV scene.

Fresh off a huge hit on Israel’s Reshet 13 for Series Mania buzz title “Red Skies,” at Iberseries, Leshem, who co-created “Valley of Tears” and “No Man’s Land,” joins some of the most influential voices on the Spanish-speaking film-tv and beyond such as former Netflix exec Erik Barmack at Wild Sheep Content, Ran Tellem at The Mediapro Studio and Axel Kuschevatzky at Infinity Hill. Wild Sheep has a production alliance with Tms.

At Netflix, Barmack oversaw Netflix’s first-ever push into fully foreign-language content beginning with Mexico’s “Club of Crows” and Brazil’s...

Izhar Harlev, the co-creator and head writer for “Mossad 101” and “The Gordin Cell,” is set to showrun “Maggiore,” a thriller series revolving around the sinking of a boat full of Israeli and Italian intelligence officers on Lake Maggiore in the Swiss Alps.

Ordered by leading Israeli network Yes TV, “Maggiore” is being developed and produced by Dafna Prenner at Israel’s Artza Productions, the banner behind Netflix’s hit show “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem”; Leo Maidenberg at Paris-based Place du Marché and Jad Ben Ammar at Kador (“Sisters in Arms“) and his new banner Talea Produzioni in Italy.

The eight-part series will revolve around the sinking of the small boat on Lake Maggiore on May 28 and the chain of events that followed the tragedy. The boat sank after being hit by a violent storm. Out of the 23 passengers on board, four people drowned, including a former agent of Israel’s spy agency Mossad,...

World-premiering in competition at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, Israeli espionage thriller “Trust No One” marries the pedigree and primetime polish of past series like “Traitor” and “Valley of Tears” with techno-anxieties tied to the here-and-now – specifically with regards to the security state and modern cyber warfare.

“Israel has become one of the largest global exporters of spy ware,” says co-creator Daniel Amsel. “Only, those technological weapons can undermine democracy and lead to the death of truth. So we wanted to thread those very sensitive topics into an entertaining and fast-paced thriller that deals with the loneliness of leadership and the difficulties of parenthood, among other themes.”

Created by Amsel alongside Ron Leshem (“Euphoria”) and Amit Cohen (“False Flag”), and directed by Ofir Lobel, the nine-part drama follows Itamar (“Fire Dance” award-winner Yehuda Levi), the youngest ever head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency turned target of a cyber-security leak.

New Direction

One Direction star Niall Horan is set to cameo on rail-themed Channel 4 digital series, “Trainspotting with Francis Bourgeois.”

Produced by Untold Studios, the series sees TikTok creator Bourgeois introduce celebrities to the obscure hobby.

Horan will join Bourgeois for a “day of locomotive escapades” starting at Liverpool Street Station in London – but will a series of train cancelations and delays scupper their plans?

During the episode, which is available from June 14 on Channel 4’s YouTube, Horan reveals a very personal connection to trains, telling Bourgeois that his grandfather was a train driver. Movie buffs will also be thrilled to discover Horan’s grandfather drove the train in “The Great Train Robbery.”

Series Lab Dana Blankstein-Cohen

The second edition of the Sam Spiegel Series Lab, which was established last year by the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School, with the support of Netflix, and artistic consultancy of Hagai Levi...

Exclusive: Red Skies, the Israeli drama that counts Euphoria and Shtisel execs behind it, has landed a renewal a month before the first season has launched.

Reshet 13 has made the bold move for an eight-part Season 2, with the first set to debut in mid-June. The series, which has backing from Len Blavatnik’s Access Entertainment, has been building momentum over recent months and had its world premiere in International Competition at Series Mania in March.

Red Skies is based on a best-selling novel from former Israeli Intelligence Officer Daniel Shinar and is set during the bloody Second Intifada period of 2000-2005, exploring events such as Israel’s Operation Defensive Shield in 2002. It follows the Israel-Palestine conflict through the eyes of two friends who are forced to choose sides and stars Maor Schweitzer (Valley of Tears), Amir Khoury (Fauda), Annie Shapero, Lihi Kornowski (Losing Alice), Alona Sa’ar, and Yaakov Zada Daniel...

Peter Chernin’s The North Road Company has boarded crime drama Bad Boy, the new Hebrew-language series from Euphoria creator Ron Leshem and director Hagar Ben-Asher (Bosch, City on a Hill).

The content studio, launched last year, unveiled its “first international co-studio deal” for the series with Israel-based film and TV company Sipur (The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes, Munich ’72), formerly known as Tadmor Entertainment, on Wednesday. North Road International Film & TV president Kristin Jones and Emilio Schenker, CEO of Sipur (the Hebrew word for “story”), made the announcement.

The companies are co-financing the drama alongside Israeli pay TV and telecom firm Hot and Tedy Productions, which collaborated on the original Euphoria. Principal photography began in January.

Bad Boy tells the story of Dean who was imprisoned in a cruel juvenile detention facility where he bonded with Zoro, “a grim and mysterious teenage prisoner serving time for murder,...

When Deep Blue, a computer, beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997 some journalists found comfort in the thought that A.I. would never be able to write like Shakespeare.

Well, think again. Or, better, check out the title sequence of Series Mania live action entry “Red Skies.”

Shared with Variety, it is being hailed by the series’ makers, including designer Merav Shaham, as the first ever title sequence made solely with Artificial Intelligence.

What’s so impressive – and perhaps even preoccupying for those who fear A.I. – is that the sequence is, more than technically brilliant or absolutely incoherent, highly touching in human terms and unexpectedly and sometime mysteriously poetic – the last qualities you might expect from A.I.

This is a major series as well, playing Series Mania main competition, backed in a just-announced deal by Len Blavatnik and Danny Cohen’s Access Entertainment, and counting among its creators on Ron Leshem,...

High-flying Access Entertainment, a division of Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries and equity investor in A24 and “His Dark Materials” producer Bad Wolf, is investing in “Red Skies,” one of the biggest titles set to world premiere at this year’s Series Mania, in main International Competition.

Blavatnik and Danny Cohen, Access Entertainment president, will serve as executive producers on “Red Skies,” a position they also hold one upcoming movies such as Beau is Afraid, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Jonathan Glazer’s “Zone of Interest,” “Iron Claw,” starring Zac Efron, and “Conclave,” from Edward Berger, director of “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

An eight-episode series, “Red Skies” will be broadcast on Reshet 13 later this year.

“Red Skies” marks Access Entertainment’s first foray into Israeli television drama production. It makes its bow on a series which involves a bevy of the prime movers on Israel’s international TV scene.

Produced by Yoav Gross,...

Banijay’s Endemol Shine Israel and Munich-based producer Neuesuper (“8 Days”) have inked German adaptation rights to Israeli hit comedy series “Nevsu,” to air on public broadcaster Zdf.

Israel’s “Nevsu” won the International Emmy Award for best comedy series in 2018. Its German adaptation, “I Don’t Work Here,” sees three generations from two worlds come together to form one family.

Revolving around Laura and Dawit, a young multi-racial couple, and their daughter, the pair are battling living with her parents and facing huge scrutiny from her mother-in-law.

The series will explore culture clashes, generational frustrations, and everyday racism with humor, endearing characters and family warmth.

The German adaptation is directed by Arman Riahi (“The Migrumpies”) and written by Romina Ecker (“Fat and Fat”) and Malina Nnendi Nwabuonwor.

“The Israeli audience was charmed by this comedy series as not only is it funny but ‘Nevsu’ also cleverly highlights the importance of building bridges,...

Indie producer Daisy Allsop has joined WestEnd films to oversee acquisitions and development across the company’s slate of films and TV shows.

Allsop takes over from Toby Hill and has already started her new role. She will attend the Berlin film festival, where WestEnd will debut Traitor, a new television series from the creators of False Flag, Valley of Tears, and Euphoria.

As an independent producer, Allsop’s credits include Tell It To The Bees (2018), Orthodox (2015), and the forthcoming My Happy Ending, starring Andie Macdowell and Miriam Margolyes. Allsop is also a screenwriter, represented by Casarotto Ramsay. She continues to operate her producing slate through Archface Films.

“We are thrilled to have Daisy join our team. Daisy has a great instinct for material and extensive experience in script development,” said Maya Amsellem, managing director at WestEnd.

“Her history as a producer makes her a real asset in building close...

“The Fear Index,” starring Josh Hartnett, and the third season of iconic Israeli series “False Flag” will both screen at the Berlinale Series Market Selects, whose lineup was unveiled Tuesday.

The latest from “The Crown” producers Left Bank Pictures, Sky Original “The Fear Index” is billed as a fast-paced, gripping Frankenstein-style parable on the dangers of AI. Based on the Robert Harris novel of the same title, its international sales will be handled by NBCUniversal Global Distribution.

Sold by Keshet International, “False Flag” is one of milestone titles that turned Israel’s series into a global brand, with Fox International taking the world on season one at 2015’s Mipcom in its first global acquisition of a foreign-language series.

Season three marks the return of both original series creators, Maria Feldman and Amit Cohen, in a tale which looks set to weave the same web of distrust, deception and sudden twists as the first two seasons.

Welcome to Deadline’s International Disruptors, a feature where we shine a spotlight on key executives and companies outside of the U.S. shaking up the offshore marketplace. This week we’re speaking to Arik Kneller, founder of Israeli talent agency The Kneller Agency. The company, which was the first agency in Israel to focus solely on representation of writers and creative professionals, has an extensive list of clients that are behind series such as Fauda, In Treatment and Shtisel.

As Israeli content continues to be a growing force in the drama world, Arik Kneller is one man behind the scenes who is driving the charge.

The Tel Aviv native is the founder of The Kneller Agency, an Israeli talent and artist agency that represents more than 250 clients across television, film, theatre, literature, music and advertising. The company was the first agency in Israel to focus its representation on writers and directors.

Paris-based sales company will unveil first images for both upcoming films at Mia.

Paris-based Charades has boarded world sales on Israeli director Moshe Rosenthal’s comedy-drama Karaoke, starring Lior Ashkenazi as a charismatic bachelor who casts a strange spell on a middle-class couple in his new apartment block.

Sasson Gabay and Rita Shukrun co-star as the nondescript neighbours who become obsessed with Ashkenazi’s character, a former modelling agent with a penchant for karaoke.

Foxtrot and Valley Of Tears star Ashkenazi previously appeared in Rosenthal’s 2018 short film Our Way Back. Rosenthal’s other credits include millennial dating webseries Confess,...

Expansive Paris-based media group Mediawan has picked up international sales rights to the Jerusalem-set ultra-orthodox drama “The Rabbi,” which participates in this year’s Series Mania Forum at its Co-Pro Pitching Sessions.

Abuses of power aren’t unique to any one nationality, gender, sexual orientation or religion. With “The Rabbi,” celebrated filmmaker Eytan Fox proposes a fictionalized drama inspired by a true story which shocked Jerusalem’s ultra-orthodox Jewish community that proves that such abuses can happen almost anywhere.

“The Rabbi” turns on a powerful and well-known university professor from Jerusalem’s ultra-orthodox community who uses his position to influence his male students into physical relationships. Although the students are all in their 20s and the relationships consensual, there is uproar when the truth comes out, both regarding the Rabbi engaging in relationships with his subordinates and the fact that this superstar clergyman is a closeted gay man.

Stylistically and thematically,...

Streaming platform to launch standard, mobile tiers.

Films from Warner Bros will get a 35-day exclusive theatrical run in Latin America and the Caribbean prior to launching on debut on HBO Max.

WarnerMedia sources confirmed to Screen this will apply to 2021 and beyond. The development marks the latest shift in the theatrical landscape and means exhibition has seen what was until fairly recently a three-month exclusive runaway slashed by the pandemic and the march of streaming platforms.

HBO Max will roll out across in 39 territories the region starting on June 29 on standard and mobile tiers starting at $3 a month. The...

Package to launch standard, mobile tiers.

Films from the Warner Bros slate will debut on HBO Max in Latin America and the Caribbean after a 35-day exclusive theatrical run.

At time of writing WarnerMedia had not clarified whether the window applies only to the 2021 slate, or beyond. Either way, it marks the latest blow for exhibition, which has seen what was until fairly recently a three-month exclusive runaway slashed by the pandemic and the march of streaming platforms.

HBO Max will roll out across in 39 territories the region starting on June 29 on standard and mobile tiers starting at $3 a month.

Exclusive: In something of an international coup, Mr Robot and True Detective outfit Anonymous Content has inked a first look deal with Israeli talent and artist agency, The Kneller Agency, which reps a host of the country’s leading film and TV creatives.

Under the deal, management and production firm Anonymous Content will have exclusive first-look rights to original film and TV ideas generated from the group.

Based in the center of Tel Aviv and founded in 1996 by Arik Kneller, the agency reps more than 250 clients in TV, film, theater, literature, music and advertising.

Among the company’s most internationally recognized talent are: Two-time Oscar nominee and co-creator and director of HBO series, Our Boys, Joseph Cedar; Keren Margalit — creator, writer, and director of Yellow Peppers which was the basis for UK remake The A Word (BBC); Tomer Kappon — star of The Boys (Amazon), Fauda (Netflix), and When Heroes Fly (Netfix); Israeli author,...

Exclusive: WestEnd Films has acquired international rights on Dismissed, the buzzy new satirical comedy-drama Israeli TV series about a group of female army recruits.

The show was created by Israeli Television Academy winner Nir Berger (Dead End) and Atara Frish (Heroine), who also directs. It is produced by Naomi Levari (One Week and a Day) and Saar Yogev (Chained) for Black Sheep Film Productions and Kan: Israeli Public Broadcasting. Kan is currently broadcasting the 10 x 35 series and has already picked it up for a second season.

WestEnd will handle sales through its TV-focused WeSeries banner. The company’s series credits include Valley of Tears, which recently aired on HBO Max, and Traitor, which is now in post-production; both series come from writers/producers Ron Leshem (Euphoria) and Amit Cohen (False Flag). WestEnd also has a television development slate with production and financing company, Anton. The first project will be a...

Exclusive: Lior Ashkenazi (Foxtrot and HBO’s Valley Of Tears) and Sasson Gabay (The Band’s Visit and HBO’s Oslo), two of Israel’s most noted actors, will co-star in Karaoke, which is being directed by Moshe Rosenthal (Confess).

The film is produced by Efrat Cohen (The Dive) of Tel Aviv University’s Gaudeamus Productions. Ben Giladi of Rainmaker Entertainment serves as executive producer. Dominique Welinski’s Dw are co-producing. The project is financed by Israel Film Fund and The Steve Tisch Foundation for First Features.

Karaoke tells the story of an older provincial couple (Gabay and Rita Shukrun) who develop an odd infatuation with their flamboyant new neighbour – former modelling agent, Itzik Marziano (Ashkenazi).

The project is now shooting in Israel. It was originally presented at the IFP Project Forum and Deadline understand there are buyers circling.

Rosenthal, alumni of the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television,...

Peter Langenberg, the newly appointed COO of Banijay following the Endemol Shine takeover, will be ramping up the company’s content strategy in key territories, notably in Benelux, Germany and India.

In Benelux, where Banijay just bowed the new label SimpleZodiak, a merger of Simple Media and Zodiac Nederland, the company is developing a packed slate of shows under the new leadership of Peter Lubbers, who was tapped as CEO of Banijay Benelux, the new umbrella spanning the region and its production activities stemming from nine labels.

The Benelux slate includes the gameshow “The Road to a Million”; immersive reality show “Next E-Talent,” produced for the streaming service Videoland; “Doodstil,” a drama mini-series that’s a spin-off of the hit Dutch thriller “Penoza: The Final Chapter”; web series “Hunted VIP’s”; and the documentary series “Human Playground,” about sport, culture and tradition.

“We are already well-established in Benelux as we...

This weekly feature is in addition to TVLine’s daily What to Watch listings and monthly guide to What’s on Streaming.

With more than 530 scripted shows now airing across broadcast, cable and streaming, it’s easy to forget that a favorite comedy is returning, or that the new “prestige drama” you anticipated is about to debut. So consider this our reminder to set your DVR, order a Season Pass, pop a fresh Memorex into the Vcr… however it is you roll.

More from TVLineWhat's New on Netflix in DecemberFreeform's 25 Days of Christmas Schedule110+ TV Shows That Ended in 2020:...

For three weeks in October 1973, a group led by Egyptian and Syrian military waged war against Israeli forces across a number of different territorial areas in region. Known by various names, it is often referred to as the Yom Kippur War, so named for the Jewish holy day on which the fighting began. Other names for the conflict include the Ramadan War or the October War — but regardless of its moniker, the conflict led to the deaths of thousands of combatants and an eventual redrawing of territorial maps within the region.

“Valley of Tears,” a 10-part series currently airing on Israeli TV station Kan 11 and now streaming on HBO Max, examines the experiences of a number of soldiers in the midst of that unexpected battle. Though the series in the early going focuses on the perspective of the Israeli side of the conflict, this is not a homogenous exercise in heroic mythmaking.

Sebastien Raybaud’s production and financing company Anton, which co-financed shows like “His Dark Materials” and “McMafia,” and sales and production company WestEnd Films are to co-fund a development slate of television series.

The first project will be a thriller series from television writers/producers Ron Leshem and Amit Cohen, currently in development.

WestEnd most recently partnered with Leshem and Cohen on Israel’s biggest budget television drama series to date, “Valley of Tears,” which was part of Series Mania’s 2020 official competition, and has recently been sold worldwide to HBO Max.

Anton co-finances an on-going high-end drama fund with the BBC that includes productions such as “Gentleman Jack,” and Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials.” They have also self-commissioned a short-form drama series with the BBC and Clerkenwell Films. Anton recently announced a collaboration with producers Sherry Marsh and Julie Gardner of Bad Wolf America to develop global thriller “The Red Lotus,...

Production and finance outfit Anton and sales and production company WestEnd have entered a deal to co-fund a development slate of TV series.

The first project under the pact will be a thriller series from writers/producers Ron Leshem and Amit Cohen, whose credits include the war drama No Man’s Land, which Hulu is showing stateside. Cohen also produced the Keshet show False Flag and Leshem created the Israeli teen drama Euphoria, which was adapted by HBO.

WestEnd also recently partnered with the duo on Israel’s biggest budget television drama series to date, Valley of Tears, which Deadline revealed had sold to HBO Max.

Anton has recent credits include BBC productions Gentleman Jack, and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. The company has multi-financing agreements with European companies including Federation Entertainment and TF1-owned Newen.

WestEnd Films’ Managing Director Maya Amsellem said: “WestEnd has launched its TV arm WeSeries...

First project will be a thriller from Ron Leshem (‘Euphoria’) and Amit Cohen (‘False Flag’).

UK firms Anton and WestEnd Films have joined forces to co-fund a development slate of television series, with a new thriller from renowned writer-producers Ron Leshem and Amit Cohen already in the pipeline.

WestEnd Films, the London-based production, financing and sales company, recently worked with Leshem and Cohen on Israel’s biggest budget drama series to date, Valley Of Tears, which was part of Series Mania’s 2020 official competition and has recently been sold worldwide to HBO Max.

Details of the new project are being...

Amazon Prime Video has boarded Melanie Laurent’s anticipated period mystery thriller “Le bal des folles” as its first Original movie in France.

“Le bal des folles” is produced by Alain Goldman and Axelle Boucaï at Legende Films. Amazon Prime Video will launch the film exclusively in France and around the world in 2021.

The movie will start shooting next week in Rochefort, in western France. Penned by Laurent and Christophe Deslandes, “Le bal des folles” is based on the award-wining novel of the same name by Victoria Mas.

The film takes place at the end of the 19th century in Paris, at a time when women deemed too rebellious or difficult were frequently labeled as insane and institutionalized. The action unfolds at the Salpêtrière hospital where such women, diagnosed with different kinds of nervous system disorders, were confined and put under the supervision of neurologists such as Jean-Martin Charcot. Each year,...

British production and sales outfit WestEnd Films and European producer/financier Anton are joining forces to bankroll a new slate of high-end television series. 

The first project under the partnership, announced Thursday, will be a thriller series from Israeli showrunners Ron Leshem and Amit Cohen, creators of False Flag and the WestEnd-produced Valley of Tears.

Leshem, who also created the Israeli drama Euphoria was successfully adapted by HBO in a version starring Zendaya; and Cohen, whose credits include hit spy series The Gordin Cell,  will be lead writers on the new series as well as executive producers. Deals of the project are still under wraps....

British production and sales outfit WestEnd Films and European producer/financier Anton are joining forces to bankroll a new slate of high-end television series. 

The first project under the partnership, announced Thursday, will be a thriller series from Israeli showrunners Ron Leshem and Amit Cohen, creators of False Flag and the WestEnd-produced Valley of Tears.

Leshem, who also created the Israeli drama Euphoria was successfully adapted by HBO in a version starring Zendaya; and Cohen, whose credits include hit spy series The Gordin Cell,  will be lead writers on the new series as well as executive producers. Deals of the project are still under wraps....

1973’s Yom Kippur War is the focal point for HBO Max’s upcoming original series, “Valley of Tears.” Instead of creating a large scale approach to warfare, the creators—Ron Leshem, Amit Cohen, Yaron Zilberman, and Daniel Amse—are highlighting individual character arcs. The selected roles each draw attention to a seemingly forgotten segment of the conflict. Prominent aspects of the series include: “a famous bohemian television star in search of his estranged son, a newly enlisted soldier; a commander and his newly befriended intelligence analyst; tank crewman who represent Israel’s Black Panthers social justice reform movement; and a female officer who refuses to leave the battlefields, disobeying direct orders to evacuate.”

Read More: ‘Two Weeks To Live’ Trailer: Maisie Williams Is On A Deadly Mission In HBO Max’s New Limited Series

Israeli filmmaker Yaron Zilberman directs this exploration of a painful period.

Continue reading ‘Valley Of Tears...

There are only two months left to go in this truly hellish year and relatively new streaming service HBO Max is trying to make the best of them. While most other streamers recover from Halloween and get prepared for Christmas, HBO Max is using November 2020 to fill out its servers.

Things are pretty light not the new original series front this month with only Industry (Nov. 9) and His Dark Materials season 2 (Nov. 16) making a splash. But the streamer has a couple of notable original films to complement them. Between the World and Me, based on the book by Ta-Nehisi Coates, arrives on Nov. 21 and Melissa McCarthy comedy Superintelligence arrives on Nov. 26. That’s not even to mention two intriguing projects that don’t have dates yet: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion Special and The Mystery of Db Cooper.

Thankfully, the real appeal in November 2020 is all the fresh library...

HBO Max has acquired British dark comedy Two Weeks To Live, starring Game of Thrones alumna Maisie Williams and Fleabag’s Sian Clifford, which is currently airing on Sky in the UK. The Max Original series will launch November 5, streaming exclusively in the U.S.

Produced by Banijay-owned production outfit Kudos, the series follows Kim Noakes (Williams), a 20-something oddball who, since the murder of her father, has been sequestered away in the wilderness with her doomsday-prepping mother (Clifford). Feeling compelled to go on a belated coming-of-age adventure, Kim sets out to find her dad’s killer.

Two Weeks To Live also stars Taheen Modak, Mawaan Rizwan, Jason Flemyng, Sean Pertwee, and Thalissa Teixeira. The six-part original series was created by Gaby Hull and is executive produced by Phil Temple. Charlotte Surtees is the producer and Al Campbell directs.

Two Weeks To Live is HBO Max’s latest overseas import in recent weeks.

As we have just about a week left to go of October, let’s take a look at everything that’s due to arrive on HBO Max in November. It’s a big month for the WarnerMedia streaming service, with countless new movies from their legendary library being added and plenty of fresh originals dropping throughout the following weeks. A few upcoming releases have yet to be dated, but otherwise, here’s the full list of what’s coming to HBO Max next month.

Released November Tba

12 Dates Of Christmas, HBO Max Original Series Premiere

Colin Quinn & Friends: A Parking Lot Comedy Show, HBO Max Original Special Premiere

Crazy, Not Insane, Documentary Premiere (HBO)

The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air Reunion Special, HBO Max Original Special Premiere

Full Bloom, HBO Max Original Series Premiere

I Hate Suzie, HBO Max Original Series Premiere

The Mystery Of Db Cooper, Documentary Premiere (HBO)

Sesame Street,...

Hello, Jake Kanter here, and welcome to the latest edition of International Insider. This week, we ponder Mipcom’s slim pickings and examine the problems of production in a pandemic. Scroll on for news and analysis.

A Quiet Cannes

Modest Mip: And so, we have reached the end of perhaps the strangest Mipcom market ever. There is no doubt that coronavirus killed the buzz of this year’s Cannes gathering, despite the best efforts of organizer Reed Midem to capture the spirit of the market online. While there were some impressive speakers (special nod to a news-stuffed Q&a with Netflix’s Ted Sarandos) and some smart ways to interact via the Mipcom Online+ platform, it was clear that nothing can replicate the heat and light of a physical event.

Slow news week: One way of measuring the success of Mipcom is by the strength of news and gossip emanating from the market.

Women are taking the fight to Isis in “No Man’s Land,” Hulu’s upcoming Syrian civil war drama. IndieWire is exclusively premiering the trailer for the upcoming series, which can be viewed below.

The series’ synopsis reads:

“No Man’s Land” dives into the depths of the Syrian civil war through the eyes of Antoine, a young French man, in search for his estranged, presumed to be dead sister. While unraveling the mystery, piece by piece, Antoine ends up joining forces with a unit of Kurdish female fighters, fierce women and Isis’ biggest nightmare, and travels with them in Isis occupied territory. Antoine’s journey crosses paths with adventurers and anarchists, spies and innocent victims, and provides a unique look on the tragic events in Syria, and the way they affect the entire world.

“No Man’s Land” stars Félix Moati, Mélanie Thierry, and James Purefoy alongside Souheila Yacoub, Joe Ben Ayed,...

The reunion of Sofia Coppola and Bill Murray for the new A24/Apple release “On the Rocks” comes 17 years after their first collaboration on the Oscar-winning “Lost in Translation.” Such repeated pairings between directors and actors have been mainstay a in Hollywood since the earliest days of cinema. In the silent era, there were multiple films from D.W. Griffith and Lillian Gish and Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance.

One of the great partnerships during the Golden Age of Hollywood was John Ford and John Wayne. Ford had actually befriended Wayne when the young man was doing odd jobs as well as extra work-including in few of the director’s films-at Fox Studios in the late 1920s. Wayne made his official film debut starring in Raoul Walsh’s 1930 epic western “The Big Trail.”

The film wasn’t a hit and Wayne found himself spending the decade doing “B” westerns including 1938’s...

Exclusive: HBO Max has struck a deal for world rights to Valley Of Tears, Israel’s biggest-budget TV series ever made, in a major deal for London-based sales and production org WestEnd Films.

The show marks WestEnd’s first foray into TV, through its banner WeSeries. It is producing and co-financing the project, which debuted in official competition at Series Mania earlier this year.

Valley Of Tears was created and co-written by Israeli-American TV and film writer Ron Leshem (HBO’s Euphoria), Amit Cohen (False Flag), Daniel Amsel and Yaron Zilberman (A Late Quartet); the latter also directed the entire series.

The series will be branded a HBO Max original when it launches on an as-yet unspecified date. Inspired by true events, the ten-part show depicts the 1973 Yom Kippur War through the eyes of young combatants. It tells four emotional and highly personal stories of individuals swept away from their...