08/02/2021 - Created by Thierry Faber and directed by Christophe Wagner, the hit Luxembourg series has just been acquired by Netflix, marking a first for the Grand Duchy

Claude Waringo of Samsa Film has a lot to be excited about: the development of stories in the Luxembourg language and within a local context - a vocation that’s dear to the producer and his associates Jani Thiltges and Bernard Michaux - is arousing increasing levels of interest. Let’s not forget that in 1989, just as the company was launching activities, it was entrusted with the production of a fiction film which went on to acquire cult status: Schacko Klak by Paul Kieffer and Fränk Hoffmann, the first full-length film to be made in Luxembourg. The success enjoyed by this historical drama led to an unprecedented mobilisation of the industry and the professionalisation of its structures.

Thirty or so years later, Samsa Film is continuing in this vein and intensifying the pace. In 2019, Félix Koch’s Superchamp Returns [+see also:
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Netflix’s Director of Acquisitions Kai Finke welcomes this new purchase: "Capitani is well-directed and enthralling; even though it’s a local story, we’re near certain that it will resonate with international audiences. Brilliant stories really can unfold anywhere, and I’m delighted that our subscribers will soon be able to discover, for the very first time, a successful police series made in Luxembourg". The franchise created by Thierry Faber on a budget of 3 million euros and in association with Film Fund Luxembourg, RTL and Artémis Production will be available in 190 countries.

Each 26-minute episode directed by Christophe Wagner plunges audiences into a murder case revolving around a 15-year-old adolescent, whose body is found in the forest surrounding Manscheid in the country’s northern region. Investigator Luc Capitani (played by the brilliant Luc Schiltz) is tasked with untangling the villagers’ lies, aided by two unexperienced police officers (one of whom is Elsa, played by acting revelation Sophie Mousel, whom we mainly know from Souvenir [+see also:
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Despite time constraints (60 days of filming), Christophe Wagner successfully injects the series with a singular atmosphere, enhanced by sweeping yet oppressive camera movements. The forest, meanwhile, with its threatening and labyrinth-like woodlands, soon becomes a character in and of itself. In short, it all conspires to encourage the viewer to find out more about about the sordid intentions and pasts of those involved in this sensitive case. And it’s an investigation which will soon lead to another, given that a second season is now in pre-production, boasting an elevated budget of 4 million euros for a six-hour programme. Shooting on this follow-up series will begin in spring 2021 and will see us following another inquiry led by the tip-top investigator, this time in the more urban setting of Luxembourg City.

(Translated from French)