REinvent Boards Norwegian True Crime ‘escapes Bolivia’

Scandinavia’s leading sales organization REinvent has joined the Norwegian crime film ‘Escaping Bolivia’, which is currently filming in Cape Town, South Africa, following initial filming in Oslo.

Fenomen (“Rod Knock”) and the long-standing company 4 ½ (“Out Stealing Horses”) produce for TV2 Norway, in co-production with German pubcaster NDR and the Oslo Film Fund.

Helmer Anna Gutto, behind Lionsgate’s ‘Paradise Highway’ starring Juliette Binoche, is concept director working with creator and episodic writer Emily Beck, associated with Netflix’s ‘Royalteen’. Topping the six-part series are Jakob Oftebro (“Agent Hamilton”), Ella Øverbye, from Dag Johan Haugerud’s “Dreams,” Josephine Tetlie, Lisa Hovden and Danish actor Joachim Fjelstrup (“The Girl With the Needle”).

The show is inspired by the infamous drug case of three Norwegian girls, aged 17, 18 and 21, who were imprisoned in Bolivia after being arrested in 2008 with 22kg of cocaine in their bags. Two managed to escape – one with a child, helped by a journalist – while the third stayed behind.

In the series we follow Ida, her sister-in-law Michelle and Ida’s lover Cecilie, as they are arrested at the airport in Bolivia with suitcases full of cocaine. They are sentenced to prison in one of the most dangerous women’s prisons in the world. Ida soon discovers that she cannot trust her friends or the ability of the Norwegian authorities to save her. She begins to plan her escape.

“After eight years of development and research, it feels great to finally be filming!” said Beck, who co-wrote the story with Helena Nielsen and Ingrid Haukelidsæter. “I am confident that “Escaping Bolivia” will touch, captivate and challenge viewers. The series focuses on friendship, betrayal and love, and something as unique and beautiful as motherhood and doing everything for the people you love. At the same time, the series is also about what you are willing to do and sacrifice to save yourself, and about having to grow up behind bars,” she said.

Helene Aurø, sales and marketing director of REinvent said: “We are very proud to have picked up ‘Escaping Bolivia’. It’s a great story that needs to be told and we’re confident the series will find an audience around the world.” Delivery is scheduled for the end of 2025.

Other premium titles on REinvent’s Mipcom list include Finnish thriller drama ‘L/over’, the first live-action fiction show initiated by Marika Makaroff, founder of ‘Moominvalley’s’ producer Gutsy Animations. The completed series, starring Krista Kosonen and Jani Volanen, will premiere in Finland on MTV3/C More in 2025.

Buyers will also see two high-end Icelandic shows: “Reykjavik 112,” based on best-selling novelist Yrsa Sigurdardóttir, billed as a “Nordic bright and modern take on the crime thriller genre,” and the anticipated biopic “Vigdis.” from the creatives “Blackport” at Vesturport prodco, about the former president of Iceland, the iconic Vigdís Finnbogadóttir.