Ukrainian Media Group Ukraine and Indian GoQuest Media Ventures have made a deal on the international distribution of a new detective series Markuss, part of the official selection of CEE Screenings 2019.
Markuss (8 x 45’) is the first Ukrainian-Latvian TV series jointly produced by Ukrainian TV channel Ukraine, Media Group Ukraine’s affiliated company, and Latvian Helio Media. The series is written by Lera Kolegayeva and Volodymyr Skyba, directed by Anton Azarov and based on an original idea by Igor Volkov. Chief producer of the TV channel Ukraine Production Department is Nataliya Stribuk.
“Markuss” unravels the tragic story of the life of lonely English teacher Polina Klochko when her son Mark is kidnapped from kindergarten. The story unfolds when five years later, in a newscast, she accidentally spots Mark in the crowd. Polina resumes the search for her son with the help of ex-police officer Denis Denisov. Whilst investigating the boy’s disappearance they discover a dangerous gang that kidnaps and sells children to adoptive parents abroad. Denisov soon faces a bigger challenge and a terrible dilemma: how can he help the woman he loves to reunite with her son if the life of his only daughter is at stake?
Jimmy George, Vice President Sales & Acquisitions at GoQuest Media said, “We look forward to continuing our special relationship with Media Group Ukraine who has given us another really engrossing drama to add to our expanding catalogue. The story of Markuss is thrilling and dramatic and we believe that the series will appeal to a worldwide audience with its captivating and powerful story arch”.
Iryna Chernyak: “As a group MGU has an excellent expertise in TV content production. With a huge number of TV series content in the background a relevant coproduction enables to tell quite a different story, present new visual images, show local traditions and thus be authentic and global at the same time. For that matter we are in constant search of cooperation possibilities in the outer markets. Helio Media is a thriving company in Latvia interested in high-quality projects just the way we are. We were originally negotiating sales of our in-house productions but in the course of the negotiations, we found out a potential for further cooperation and offered the idea of Markuss. It was essential for us to find the right partner for the story. And in this case it was a perfect match.”
