A near insatiable global demand for video content has finally put Greek-language productions on distributors’ radars, with the newly debuted series Milky Way being picked up recently by an international distributor. The news comes after the Netflix premiere of Maestro Blue, the first Greek series to debut on an international on-demand streaming platform, earlier this year.
Like Maestro Blue, Milky Way is also being broadcast by Athens-based Mega Channel, which shares the production credits with Foss Productions and Plays2Place Productions.
Billed as an eight-part coming-of-age story revolving around a 17-year-old’s unwanted pregnancy, the series was written and directed by Vasilis Kekatos. The Greek filmmaker made a name for himself by winning both a Palme d’Or and the Queer Palm at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, both for his short The Distance Between Us and the Sky.
According to one Athens review, “Milky Way delivers what it promises from the very start, with Kekatos telling a story as old as the world in the most contemporary way possible—by Greek standards, at least. When his young protagonists find themselves coming of age faster than they can handle, rather than giving meaning to their lives, their new-found maturity threatens to shatter their dreams, like some menacing celestial body crashing into the Earth.”
Hollywood-based distributor Fifth Season (formerly Endeavor Content) recently announced that it had acquired the global distribution rights to the Greek teen drama series ostensibly set in rural southwest Greece. According to Variety, Milky Way is the first Greek series acquired by the company.
The series had its Greek terrestrial premiere on Nov. 2, and will also be available on the Vodafone TV subscriber platform. The third episode is due to be screened at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival next week, Variety reports.
In statements to the press, the series’ protagonist, Dutch-Greek actress Corinna Dullaart, stressed that the story “is about to a 17-year-old girl growing up in a small town and dreaming of moving to Athens to become a dancer. Finding out she’s pregnant shatters those dreams. Some people will end up helping her, but others will try to repress her spirit.”
