Hot Picks: Maximilian

Gomorrah distributor Beta Film is continuing to finance big-budget European drama and its latest series is the three-part Maximilian.

The drama, which has a budget of more than £11m, is Game Of Thrones without the dragons, or The Borgias with more youthful lust.

It tells the story of Mary, who inherits the most powerful duchy of the 15th century when her father dies. However, the law forbids her from ruling and she must marry so that her husband can govern. The Austrian Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick III, demands that his son Maximilian ask for Mary’s hand in marriage. Mary and Maxi- milian realise that the only way to avoid being pawns in a power game is to join forces. What they don’t bargain for is falling in love.

The series was commissioned by German public broadcaster ZDF and Austrian network ORF.

Filming began in August at the Cistercian Monastery of Zetti in Austria and will continue until December across Hungary and the Czech Republic.

It stars Jannis Niewöhner (The Girl King) as Maximilian and Christa Théret (Renoir) as Mary.

Oliver Auspitz, partner and producer at Austrian indie MR Film, says the mini-series is a “truly great love story”.

“We are ready to take the plunge and sweep the viewer back in time to experience the late Middle Ages and its protagonists in a way that no one has ever seen before,” he says.

Beta Film is hoping that the Austrian series has the same inter- national appeal as previous Euro dramas it has sold, such as Italian political drama 1992, bought by Sky Arts in the UK, and war series Generation War, picked up by BBC2.

The distributor is launching a number of other series at Mipcom, including German psycho mystery thriller The Valley: In The Mist Of Silence and Belgian detective drama Professor T.