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Beta Film has struck a major deal on the Mafia series “Cold Summer” with Walter Presents for the U.S. and Canada, ahead of its linear premiere in the U.K. on Channel 4 on April 13, with the boxset also made available on its streaming service. It was sold to SBS Australia earlier this year.
The series broke records on its home turf on RAI Italy, premiering with peak viewership hitting 4.6 million and a remarkable 23% market share, surpassing by far the channel’s median. It was nominated for two Italian Film Awards, known as the Nastri d’Argento, in the best crime series and leading actor categories.
The eight-part series, which was adapted from the novel by former anti-Mafia prosecutor Gianrico Carofiglio, is set in the early 90s in southern Italy and looks at an uneasy alliance between a small-time Mafia boss and an upright police sergeant, Pietro Fenoglio.
Fenoglio can practically smell the Mafia war about to explode in the seaside town of Bari, Apulia. Yet no one else can quite believe that the Mafia have followed cocaine from tough Sicily to sleepy Apulia, least of all the dismissive Bari police chief, who reprimands Pietro for his maverick approach to detective work.
As Pietro begins a single-minded pursuit to root out the town’s nascent Mafia dons, his marriage to his long-suffering wife falls apart. But when the ruthless Mafia boss Nicola Grimaldi discovers his young son has been kidnapped and murdered, the suspect and Grimaldi’s former friend Vito seeks refuge with police. This collaboration with the quicksilver informant unwillingly leads Pietro into a murky underworld, finding that in this case, law enforcers may not differ much from the law breakers.
The series stars Paolo Sassanelli and Giulia Vecchio (“Trust”), two of Italy’s most esteemed actors. It is directed by Alessandro Casale, created by Gianrico Carofiglio, Doriana Leondeff, Antonio Leotti and Oliviero Del Papa, and produced by Clemart for Rai Fiction in association with Beta Film. Beta Film also handles international sales.
