Beta Film travels to the Italian Global Series Festival in Rimini and Riccione to celebrate five premieres. Headed by the world premiere of British detective drama Bookish, and epic European TV event series Rise of the Raven, the crime series Pale Mountains, the fifth season of the YA sensation The Sea Beyond, and the second season of the coming-of-age drama Prisma will compete in Italian competition.  

Rise of the Raven, created by acclaimed producer Robert Lantos, will premiere in the international drama competition, alongside the British detective drama Bookish, premiering on June 24 in attendance of creator, producer, and actor Mark Gatiss.

Furthermore, the fifth season of the Italian YA phenomenon The Sea Beyond (Picomedia, 50x1h) will celebrate its premiere in the Italian competition and is honored with a special event. The coming-of-age hit series Prisma (Cross Production, 16x1h) will compete in the category Best Drama (Italian Competition) with its second season, while the crime drama Pale Mountains (Rai Fiction, Cross Productions, 8x1h/4x1h) will compete in Best Limited Series (Italian Competition).

Rise of the Raven revolves around fearless army commander János Hunyadi, who devotes his life to defending Europe against an Ottoman invasion. His strongest allies are the women in his life: Erzsébet, the wife who not only stands by him, but fights alongside him, and Mara, his first love, who breaks his heart by becoming lead concubine in Sultan Murad’s court. When the Ottoman Empire mobilizes an army of unprecedented size to march west with the objective of conquering the Vatican and Europe, Hunyadi leads his small but mighty army to the battlefield.

Rise of the Raven is produced by Robert Lantos (Sunshine) and directed by Robert Dornhelm (Maria Theresia), Orsi Nagypal, and Attila Szász, with Balázs Lengyel serving as showrunner. The series is produced by Serendipity Point Films, Twin Media, HG Media, MR Film, and Beta Film.

Featuring Emmy award winner Mark Gatiss, Bookish tells the story of a witty bookshop owner with an unusual name: Book. As a former military spy, now working as a detective and consultant for the police, Book is solving their most uncrackable cases. But he has a secret himself – as a gay man in the 1940s, he lives in a mutually agreed ‘lavender marriage’ with his childhood friend Trottie (Polly Walker). After having lost the love of his life in the war, Book’s past suddenly seems to catch up to him and poses a riddle that seems unsolvable, even for him. A stylish and colorful crime drama set in London in 1946 with a thoroughly modern sensibility and tone.

Bookish is directed by Carolina Giammetta produced by Eagle Eye Drama for UKTV and PBS in association with Happy Duck Films and supported by the Belgian Tax Shelter. Beta Film holds worldwide distribution rights, while PBS Distribution holds the North American rights to season one.

Picomedia and Rai Fiction produced The Sea Beyond is set in a juvenile detention center at the Gulf of Naples, where the inmates are dealing with power structures and adult expectations. Yet being locked up does not stop them from dreaming of a better tomorrow.

Prisma, produced by Cross Productions, is a coming-of-age series about the complex relationship between identity, aspirations, physical appearance, and sexual orientation of a group of teenagers.

In Pale Mountains, a mysterious serial killer roams the streets of Bolzano. An Italian police inspector with a painful past and an assistant DA of German origin join forces to catch him.

Pale Mountains is produced by RAI Fiction and Beta Film subsidiary Cross Productions and supported by IDM.

Beta Film handles international sales to all productions.