The BBC has acquired Families Like Ours, the debut TV drama series from Academy Award and BAFTA winning director Thomas Vinterberg, for BBC iPlayer and BBC Four, from STUDIOCANAL.
Written by Vinterberg (Another Round, The Hunt) and Bo Hr. Hansen (Department Q: Journal 64, The Art of Crying), Families Like Ours (7×60) is set in Denmark in a not-too-distant future where rising water levels can no longer be ignored and the country needs to be evacuated. As people disperse in all directions, they must bid farewell to what they love, what they know, and who they are.
Slowly but steadily, everything changes. All property becomes worthless, all fortunes shift, and luck favours only a few. Those who can afford it travel to affluent countries while the less well-off depend on government-funded relocation to more challenging destinations. Families, friends and loved ones are separated. Some are overcome by hatred and division, while others nurture love and foster new beginnings.
Against this backdrop the story introduces Laura, a high school student in love for the first time and on the cusp of graduation. When news of the evacuation breaks, the course of Laura and her family’s lives are changed forever, and Laura is forced into the impossible dilemma of choosing between the three people she loves the most.
Shot across five countries, the series was shown to acclaim at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.
Thomas Vinterberg says: “I have a deepfelt connection with the UK and as you will see, it also plays a part in this series. Therefore, it is with eager anticipation that I now await how a new audience will receive Families Like Ours, and I am very thankful to the BBC for delivering this story to a nation I feel such a close kinship with.”
Families Like Ours stars Amaryllis August, Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Paprika Steen, Helene Reingaard Neumann, Magnus Millang, Esben Smed, Thomas Bo Larsen, David Dencik, Asta Kamma August, and Max Kaysen Høyrup. It was filmed on location in Denmark, Sweden, France, Romania and The Czech Republic.
Sue Deeks, Head of BBC Programme Acquisition, says: “Families Like Ours is a beautifully constructed, thought-provoking drama about what happens when people are confronted by the inconceivable, and forced to make seemingly impossible choices…”
The series was produced by Zentropa Entertainments for TV 2 Denmark, STUDIOCANAL and Canal+, co-funded by The Danish Film Institute – Public Service Fund, The European Union and Nordisk Film & TV Fond in co-production with NRK, TV4, Ard Degeto, co-produced by Film I Väst, Sirena Film, Zentropa Sweden, Saga Film and Ginger Pictures, co-produced with the support from Czech Film Fund and BNP Paribas Fortis Film Finance in collaboration with Canal+ Poland and M7. It is distributed by STUDIOCANAL.
Image: Per Arnesen
Jon Creamer
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