Exclusive: Breakthrough drama makers in Latvia Soviet jeans The wrinkles are ironed out in the second season.
We understand that producer Tasse Film is moving forward with a new season of the cult favorite Series Mania which will move the events back nearly a decade from the original setting of 1979, which was 12 years before Latvia was liberated from Communist rule.
Plot details are scarce, but we hear that two episodes will unfold in Germany on both sides of the Berlin Wall before its collapse in 1989. The love story between main character Reynars (Carlis Arnolds Avots) and Tina (Amo Milonov) will once again spark the story and form its backbone.
Stanislav Tokalov and Teodora Markova return as writers and directors, and development is well underway. Baltic broadcaster Go3 has once again joined the lineup, and funding from international partners is being sought, as the creative team looks to replace Season 2 as an international co-production.
The first season follows young Latvian rock fan and theatrical costume designer Reinars, who is sent to a mental institution by the country's communist government for political reasons in the late 1970s, but uses the prison to start illegally producing counterfeit American jeans with fellow prisoners.
It is loosely based on the experiences of Latvian citizens under Soviet rule, who were victimized for showing interest in Western culture and music. Tokalov directed the first season with Joris Corsetis.
Starring alongside Igors Selegovskis, Andris Keiss and Aamu Milonoff, Arnolds Avots stars as the Renars rebel team, winning the Series Mania Award for Best Actor in the festival's International Panorama section.
The first season's story, described by producers as falling somewhere between comedy and drama, moves from love triangle to prison break, and tonally functions as an absurdist comedy, mocking the bizarre behavior of Communist officials, while also outlining the threat they pose. It won the Audience Award for Best Series at Series Mania and several other awards at the Latvian National Film Awards.
Beta Film distributed the series, and last month inked deals with Walter Presents for North America, the UK and Ireland, HBO Max for Central and Eastern Europe, Arte for Germany and France, and Filmin for Spain and Portugal.
