PANTALEON Films

UNWANTED

in production
Release: 3rd of November 2023

Story

PANTALEON Films is producing the 8-part thriller series together with Sky Studios and Indiana Production. UNWANTED is based on the book “Bilal” by the Italian journalist Fabrizio Gatti.

The series is produced on the side of PANTALEON Films by Sascha Rosemann, Dan Maag, Marco Beckmann, Patrick Zorer and Stephanie Schettler-Köhler. For Indiana Production are responsible Fabrizio Donvito, Benedetto Habib, Daniel Campos Pavoncelli and Marco Cohen. Executive producers for Sky Studios are Nils Hartmann and Sonia Rovai.
Written by Stefano Bises and directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel.

Facts

The cruise ship Orizzonte offers its 5,000 passengers fifteen restaurants, a theater, nightclubs, stores, swimming pools, and a lavish wellness area. On the very first night at sea, reality catches up with the vacationers on their supposedly carefree vacation when the ship rescues 28 African migrants from the Mediterranean Sea. They are the survivors of a shipwreck in which more than 100 people died. On their way to Italy fleeing hunger, war, slavery and persecution, the Orizzonte is both a rescue and the first step into a world the migrants had dreamed of. When the 28 survivors learn that the Orizzonte is heading back to Libya, from where they fled, the cruise ship becomes ground zero for the global refugee crisis, human trafficking, and the Western world‘s attempts to keep out “illegal” immigrants. Prejudices and clichés persist in the minds of passengers, migrants and crew. On board the Orizzonte, humanity and cruelty, tolerance and racism, hope and sorrow, life and ultimately death inevitably collide.

Photo credit: Unwanted / Sky Studios 2022 / Francesca Cassaro

Cast/Talents

Marco Bocci, Jessica Schwarz, Dada Fungula Bozela, Hassan Najib, Jonathan Berlin, Jason Derek Prempeh, Cecilia Dazzi, Francesco Acquaroli, Barbara Auer, Sylvester Groth, Marco Palvetti, Denise Capezza, Nuala Peberdy, Samuel Kalambay, Amadou Mbow, Edward Apeagyei, Reshny N'Kouka, Onyinye Odokoro, Massimo De Lorenzo, and Scot Williams

Crew

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Writers: Stefano Bises with the participation of Alessandro Valenti, Bernardo Pellegrini und Michela Straniero