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Can you imagine a world without prisons? In eight-episode series “A Better Place,” bowing at Mipcom, one city decides to do just that, closing down its correctional facilities and reintegrating prisoners into the society. Some support the idea – others are petrified.

“If you ask me, it’s a perfect moment to talk about this topic. The world is becoming more and more polarized, more and more black and white. We want to make people think and this series really takes time to examine the consequences of such experience,” says Nicolas Loock, managing director of Studiocanal TV and Studiocanal Series.

“We need to be able to forgive. Otherwise, what’s left? It’s supposed to be entertaining, but it would be great to launch a discussion as well, because there are similar experiments under way. Different countries look for other ways to rehabilitate people.”

A German-language series, “A Better Place” was produced by Komplizen Serien,...

Welcome to Deadline’s The Hot Ones — Drama, our guide to some of the best scripted TV being sold at MIPCOM this year. Our editorial team has done extensive research in the run-up to the 2024 market and has handpicked a selection of the projects set to be big talking points at this year’s event in Cannes.

In between meetings and cocktail parties, you’re sure to hear whispers about the next potential global hit, and The Hot Ones is here to guide you. So scroll down for the juiciest fare including Beta Films’ Rise of the Raven, Lionsgate’s Spartacus prequel and Fremantle’s Jesse Williams-starrer Costiera.

A Better Place Komplizen/StudioCanal/Wolfgang Ennenbach

Distributor: StudioCanal

Length: 8 x 45’

Producers: Komplizen Serien, Studiocanal Series, Film Ag, The Post Republic, Wdr, Ard Degeto

Network: Ard (Germany), Canal+ (France & Austria)

What happens to a society that ditches prison? That’s the...

Production has kicked off on “A Better Place,” which is produced by Komplizen Serien and Studiocanal Series in Germany.

Komplizen Serien, headed by David Keitsch, is the TV arm of leading movie production company Komplizen Film, whose credits include “Spencer,” for which Kristen Stewart was Oscar-nominated, and “Toni Erdmann,” which was Oscar-nominated in the foreign language film category.

“A Better Place” is the first German TV show to be produced by Studiocanal Series, the German TV arm of the French production powerhouse. Studiocanal Series is headed by Nicolas Loock.

The series will be shown on German streaming platform Ard Mediathek and broadcast channel Das Erste at the end of 2024. Studiocanal is handling international distribution.

It is shooting in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany from August to December. Alexander Lindh is the showrunner. Anne Zohra Berrached and Konstantin Bock (the editor on Oscar-nominated “Capernaum”) are directing.

The show poses the question: What if...

Capernaum, which roughly means chaos, is much more than a reductionist's vision of the vulnerability of children in a world of extreme poverty.

We have seen films about impoverished children right from Salaam Bombay to Slumdog Millionaire?to Liono?and a pack of Iranian films to boot. But this one, on the emotional quotient is very intense and almost unbearable to witness as it surpasses any other film seen earlier.

Narrated in a non-linear format and designed as a documentary, the director uses the courtroom trial as the framing device where a singularly focused, self-possessed Zain (Zain Al Rafeea), faces off for a crime he did and later sues his parents (Kawsar Al Haddad and Fadi Kamel Yousef) for neglect, abuse and for the crime of bringing him into this terrible world.

"I'm living in hell," that's how he describes his life to the judge.

Zain, a child close to adolescence,...