‘The Piano Teacher’, ‘Amour’ director Michael Haneke to helm his first TV series

Michael Haneke. Image: AFP/Laurent Emmanuel via AFP Relaxnews

The much-lauded director, known for films with a bleak outlook, will create his first-ever television series.

Michael Haneke will create his first-ever television series, per The Hollywood Reporter. Haneke was twice awarded the Palme d’Or in Cannes: for “The White Ribbon” in 2009 (a project that began as a TV series) and for “Amour” in 2012. The latter film went on to take the 2013 Oscar for best foreign-language film.

Haneke is teaming up with Germany’s UFA Fiction (a division of production giant FremantleMedia), which was also behind the successful TV series “Deutschland ’83”. Now, UFA will power “Kelvin’s Book”, a dystopian drama set in a near future. Given Haneke’s propensity for a distinctively dystopian take on society, the material is a fitting match.

The English-language series, which will span ten episodes, follows a group of young people forced to make an emergency landing outside of their home country; at which point they are, for the first time, confronted with the true face of their nation.

Executive producer Nico Hofmann said, “’Kelvin’s Book’ is an extraordinarily rich, gripping and ambitious story. With contemporary themes and a reflection of the digital age that we live in, there’s no better time for this project.” JB

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