This year’s Italian Global Series Festival will host the premieres of “Benindorm Is Murder,” a new Channel 5 detective drama series starring John Hannah, and hotly anticipated Brazilian medical show “Emergency 53.” The event’s second edition will take place July 3-11 in the seaside cities of Rimini and Riccione.
“Benindorm Is Murder,” formerly titled “Death in Benindorm,” sees Hannah playing Dennis, a former detective trying to escape his past who swaps the chaos of the U.K. for a quieter life running a bar in the Spanish coastal resort of Benidorm. But when tourists start turning up dead, he’s reluctantly drawn back into detective work. Dennis is egged on by his barmaid Rosa, a crime drama superfan, played by Carolina Bécquer. Hannah is set to attend the show’s launch.
“Emergency 53,” which bowed for buyers earlier this year at the prestigious Berlinale Series Market — where it won the Studio Babelsberg Production Excellence Award — follows a series of doctors, nurses and drivers of a special mobile service unit as they navigate personal and professional dramas while burdened by the responsibility to prevent others from dying.
Also having their international launches at the rapidly growing Italian TV fest are espionage thriller “Secret Service,” directed by Oscar winner James Marsh and starring Gemma Arterton; Korean thriller “Speaking Dead,” directed by Lee Jung-hyo; and the Scott Free-produced anthology series “The Terror With Devil in Silver,” the first U.S. title competing at the fest, with stars Judith Light and CCH Pounder making the trek to Riccione.
The fest’s Limited Series section will open with France’s “Le Rouge et Le Noir,” a new adaptation of Stendhal’s “The Red and the Black,” starring Victor Belmondo and featuring Camille Razat and Virginie Ledoyen, both of whom will attend in Rimini alongside director Gaël Morel.
From the U.K. comes the world bow of Channel 4’s drama “Falling,” the first romance from “Adolescence” writer Jack Thorne, directed by Peter Hoar. The Limited Series section’s international premieres are Prague-set noir “The Widow Killer” and historical epic “Raza Brava,” set in the world of Santiago’s violent soccer fans, known as ultras, during the dictatorship of Chilean general Augusto Pinochet. French series “Laura’s Treatment,” starring Valérie Bonneton, will also be screening with her in tow.
The fest’s comedy section comprises Belgium’s “Boho,” set in Antwerp’s multicultural neighborhood of Borgerhout; award-winning German comedy “The Flaws,” created by a theater collective and produced by Berlin-based indie Razor Film; and, from BBC Northern Ireland, “Leonard and Hungry Paul,” starring Alex Lawther and featuring the voice of Julia Roberts. BritBox drama “Riot Women,” directed by the U.K.’s Sally Wainwright is also screening, with her attending alongside “Riot Women” star Tamsin Greig.
Italian Global Series Festival will also be celebrating the 60th anniversary of “Star Trek.” Actress Jeri Ryan, known for her iconic role as Seven of Nine in the Star Trek universe, is set to hold a talk on contemporary female role models in TV. An onstage conversation between producer David W. Zucker and director Nicholas Meyer is also planned, and the fest will host a special preview screening of an episode of the upcoming fourth season of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.”
As previously announced, Oscar- and Emmy-nominated writer and director Meyer will serve as president of the limited series jury; veteran U.S. producer Marti Noxon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Grey’s Anatomy”) will preside over the drama series jury; and French actor Bruno Gouery (“Emily in Paris) will head up the fest’s comedy series jury.