EXCLUSIVE: Having premiered at Venice in 2024, Thomas Vinterberg’s drama Families Like Ours has been picked up by Netflix for the U.S. and will launch on the streamer on June 10.
Families Like Ours is the first series from Vinterberg, the Oscar-winning Another Round filmmaker and co-founder of the Dogma 95 movement. The drama has already sold to the BBC in the UK and a raft of international buyers. Studiocanal is handling distribution and sealed the Netflix sale.
Zentropa developed Families Like Ours with Studiocanal and it is an original series for TV2 Denmark and Canal+ in France. Set in a not-too-distant future, it follows events after rising water levels force Denmark to be evacuated. Those who can afford it travel to affluent countries. The less well-off, meanwhile, depend on government-funded relocation to more challenging destinations, casting a new spin on a refugee story. Against this backdrop we meet Laura (Amaryllis August), a student on the cusp of graduation. When news of the evacuation breaks, she faces the impossible dilemma of choosing between the people she loves the most. “Countries disappear, love remains,” reads a description of the series.
“It’s wonderful how an inherently Danish series like Families Like Ours, through a platform like Netflix, can travel far and wide and strike a chord with audiences around the world,” Vinterberg said.
He added: “In this increasingly divided world, it gives me both joy and hope to see that there’s a universal language — a common ground rooted in shared human experiences. Hopefully, that sense of connection continues across the Atlantic.”
The show was produced by Zentropa for TV2 in Denmark. The series had a solid festival run; after debuting at Venice in 2024, it played at Toronto and the London Film Festival. The show has already bowed on TV2 in Denmark.
Vinterberg and wrote the seven-part series with Bo Hr. Hansen. It was shot in Denmark, Sweden, France, Romania, and the Czech Republic. There are a raft of co-production partners including NRK, TV4, ARD Degeto, Film i Väst, Sirena Film, Zentropa Sweden, Saga Film and Ginger Pictures.
Another Round producers Sisse Graum Jørgensen and Kasper Dissing produced. Families Like Ours also reunites Vinterberg and Zentropa with Studiocanal, which distributed Another Round in the UK.
The Netflix deal follows sales to numerous broadcasters and platforms including Movistar Plus+ (Spain), CBC Gem (Canada) and SBS (Australia).
“With the support of CANAL+ and all of our partners we have taken great pride in bringing Vinterberg’s deeply human and universal story of love and hope to such a wide audience,” said Chloé Marquet, Studiocanal’s Head Of International Sales for Films & TV Series. “Netflix is now the perfect place for the series to thrive and resonate far beyond borders.”
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