The first original series produced in a Balkan country by the European subsidiary of the American HBO is Croatian. Entitled Uspjeh – Success – it is written by Marjan Alčevski, winner of the “HBO Adria First Draft” competition. This six-part series was shot in Zagreb, and directed by Bosnian film-maker Danis Tanovic.
Uspjeh is a television first for Tanovic, whose film No Man’s Land won Best Script Award at Cannes and an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2001. More recently he won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2016 Berlinale with Death in Sarajevo. He said about this new project: “Marjan Alčevsk’s script is incredibly well written, and I am very happy that HBO recognized its quality and has given me the chance to work on it.”
The Croatian series paints a dark portrait of our contemporary society, following the daily life of four characters who, unknowingly, are linked to each other by a crime. Serbian actor Uliks Fehmiu and the young Croatian actor Filip Mayer play respectively Haris and Sven. Iva Mihalic is also in the cast, playing the character of Vinka.
The series is produced by Ana Balentović of HBO Adria and Johnathan Young of HBO Europe.
The US pay channel has committed to producing at least one original film a year in the Balkan countries (Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Macedonia and Montenegro). Starting on January 6th, this series is being broadcast every Sunday on the HBO channel of the countries mentioned above, as well as in Spain, Scandinavia and some Eastern European countries.
