Bad Banks tv series (thriller);

The Luxembourg co-produced tv series "Bad Banks" has been sold in 30+ territories world-wide prior to its launch this week.

A thriller, the Bad Banks tv series (6 episodes, each of 52 mins) has been acquired for several markets in Europe, the Pacific and North America ahead of its world premiere screening at the Berlin Film Festival, as part of the Berlinale Series official selection.

This co-production between Letterbox Filmproduktion (Germany) and Iris Productions (Luxembourg) for ZDF and Arte was sold to HBO for all Central European and Scandinavian territories, at Channel Four / Walter Presents in the UK, at RTE in Ireland, Sundance TV for Spain and Portugal, and RTP in Portugal. Bad Banks was also acquired by SBS in Australia, Rialto in New Zealand, by the HULU platform (Fox-Disney-NBC) in North America, as well as by the largest streaming platform in the world for the French and German-speaking territories and the Benelux.

This multi-territorial deal is unique in its kind for a high-content series in non-English language and thus constitutes a precedent for encouraging quality products with high added value.

The series plunges into the world of high finance with its power games, manipulations and betrayals. It is written by Oliver Kienle (Stronger Than Blood) and directed by Christian Schwochow (Paula). The cast includes, among others, Paula Beer (Frantz), Désirée Nosbusch (Only Son), Tobias Moretti (Das finstere Tal) Barry Atsma (HHhH) and Marc Limpach (Eng nei Zäit).

It was developed over a period of five years by Letterbox Filmproduktion (Germany) and Iris Productions (Luxembourg) with ZDF and Arte, including the support of the Luxembourg Film Fund which also supported the project in production with Hessen Film und Medien GmbH and the German Motion Picture Fund.

The series will be broadcast first on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 March on Arte then on 3, 4 & 5 March on ZDF and afterwards in the above countries.

In Luxembourg, the first two episodes are being screened on Wednesday evening as part of the Luxembourg City Film Festival.​