Sony Pictures Entertainment Germany has picked up “Hide and Seek,” Ukraine’s first crime noir series, in a deal struck with ZDF Enterprises.
The show is expected to air on the Sony Channel, available on German pay TV via cable and satellite, this fall in both German and original Russian language.
Filmed in over 80 locations in the Ukraine, “Hide and Seek” is a tension-filled story about children who mysteriously disappear from a small industrial town and the two determined detectives who track down the kidnapper while battling their own demons.
Produced by Film.UA Group for ICTV Ukraine and OKKO Russia, “Hide and Seek” has already premiered in the U.S. and Canada on Global Series Network’s Walter Presents VOD service. In Europe, it has so far sold to RAI in Italy; FTV Prima in the Czech Republic; Bonton Film for the Czech Republic and Slovakia; Canal Plus in Poland; ETV in Estonia; LRT in Lithuania; and Lumière for Benelux territories.
The crime drama was a finalist at the last MIPDrama Buyers Summit and has screened at a slew of festivals, including the Berlinale, Seriecamp Munich, MIA Rome, Sweden’s Göteborg Film Festival and France’s Séries fest in Fontainebleau.
“The Ukrainian production is a perfect addition to our program, which already consists of outstanding European series,” said Marius Rocholl, Sony Pictures Entertainment Germany’s director of programming and acquisitions for Germany, Switzerland and Austria. “We are very pleased that we were able to bring another high-quality, exciting series into the German-speaking region for our viewers.”
Robert Franke, head of ZDFE.drama at ZDF Enterprises, added that the series had “all the hallmarks of a top-quality thriller: a gripping plot, great actors and an intelligent script. With crime dramas being one of the most popular genres on television, it comes as no surprise that this series is so popular.”
“Hide and Seek” marks the first collaboration between ZDF Enterprises and the Film.UA Group, producers of the international box office hit “The Sniffer.” ZDF Enterprises is handling the worldwide distribution of “Hide and Seek” outside of Ukraine, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. ZDF.drama director Mirela Nastase negotitiated the deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment Germany.