Tallinn’s TV Beats co-financing market announces project winners
The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has announced the winners of the TV Beats Co-Financing Market, aimed at promoting creative collaborations in series co-production and strengthening independent producers.
Finnish drama “The Women I Think About at Night” took home the event’s top honor, the Series Co-Production Development Award, and the €50,000 ($52,780) cash prize, part of the Pilot Program for Series Co-Productions initiative of the Council of Europe.
Produced by Liisa Karpo for Napafilms, the project focuses on a 40-year-old art teacher with no family who one day leaves her comfortable but unfulfilling life behind. With the help of a group of fellow courageous women, artists from the past and explorers from history, she finds a new way of life.
The series is planned to be shot in a wide range of different locations as the protagonist explores the world, including Finland, Italy, Japan, Tibet and Kenya. Anna Ruohonen is the show’s head writer and Saara Cantell and Anu Kuivalainen direct the episodes.
According to Karpo, “The Women I Think About at Night” is an uplifting high-end series that offers viewers a much-needed escape from today’s dark realities. We want to give women a break to dream, travel and experience adventure from the comfort of their own couch. This series combines some documentary images with animated elements. The story is based on a book of the same name by Mia Kankimäki, and the story has captivated female readers in more than twenty countries.”
According to the jury “[We] selected a project that seamlessly combines AI and live action, archival material and fiction, tackling universal themes in a bold and impactful way. It explores identity and self-discovery through a feminine lens, emphasizes the power of learning from diverse cultures, and draws inspiration from brave and curious historical women.”
This year’s TV Beats jury included Clémentine Trolong-Bailly representing the Council of Europe’s Pilot Program for Series Co-production, producer Christian Wikander and Remi Tereszkiewicz, Development Executive at BetaSeries.
For the first time this year, all participating projects were involved in a public vote, which led to the German project “In Paradise” winning the first Public Favorite Award. The project, produced by Marco Gilles and Lutz Heineking for Eitelsonnenschein, received €2,000 in Yamdu subscription credit for each annual Yamdu subscription or Yamdu add-on.
A drama about the aftermath of a high-profile family’s divorce, the show is written by Corinna C. Poetter, recently nominated for an International Emmy for the children’s show ‘Gong! My spectacular life.”
The TV Beats awards ceremony saw the first presentation of the Honorary TV Beats Producer Award to Ukrainian indie producer Kateryna Vyshnevska, whose impressive list of credits includes “Hide and Seek” – Ukraine’s first crime noir series and the aptly named ‘A girl from Tallinn.’ She recently produced the standout Ukrainian series “Those Who Stayed,” an anthology series inspired by true events that unfolded in Kiev in February 2022 when Russia invaded the country.
“This award aims to spotlight a prominent and inspiring figure from our region, covering the Nordic countries, the Baltics and Central-Eastern Europe, who has had a significant impact in the field of TV drama production,” said Petri Kemppinen and Roosa Toivonen, co-Heads of TV Beats Forum. “Kateryna Vyshnevska’s role in building and growing the internationalization of Ukrainian Film.UA has been remarkable, culminating in the executive production of the show ‘Those Who Stayed’, a contemporary historical series co-produced and with several European countries is funded.”
