Cineflix Rights signs international deals for The Minister

Cineflix Rights has signed deals with SBS (Australia), AMC Networks International Southern Europe, and TVO (Canada) for gripping Icelandic political drama The Minister. The sales follow the recently announced acquisition of the series by North American streamer Topic, with more in the pipeline.

The Minister (8×60’, Sagafilm for RUV Iceland, DR Denmark, NRK Norway, SVT Sweden, and YLE Finland) stars Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Trapped, True Detective, The Missing) as a populist Prime Minister whose worsening mental health condition threatens the stability of the government and the lives of those around him. The series recently was nominated in the TV Fiction category at the Prix Europa and by the Venice TV Awards for Best TV Series.

The Minister has just launched on RUV Iceland, SVT Sweden, and YLE Finland, with RUV reporting a 41.1% rating and 94.4% share for the premiere of the first episode.

James Durie, Head of Scripted, Cineflix Rights said: “The Minister showcases Sagafilm’s success in combining an exceptional cast, led by Darri, with a compelling plot about populist politics which echoes the current zeitgeist. These latest deals reflect the huge international interest we’ve already had as we continue to roll out the series to global buyers.”

The deal with SBS Australia was brokered by Chris Bluett, SVP, Sales, Asia Pacific and Benelux; Sabrina Ayala, SVP, Sales, France, Italy, Iberia, and Latin America brokered the deal with AMC Networks International Southern Europe; and the TVO Canada deal was brokered by Lucinda Gergley-Garner, SVP, Sales, North America and German Speaking Territories.

“We are very pleased with how The Minister has hit home here in Iceland with a large portion of the Icelandic population turning into the show on Sunday nights prime time in linear programming and discussing live on social media while the show is running. Even Icelandic politicians!” says Hilmar Sigurdsson, CEO of Sagafilm and one of the Executive Producers of The Minister.

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For more information, contact Mark Ogle at OH Communications (for Cineflix Rights): mark@ohcommunications.co.uk / +44 (0) 7789 981561

About Cineflix Rights
Cineflix Rights is the UK’s largest independent TV content distributor, providing premium factual and scripted programming from some of the world’s most creative producers to more than 500 broadcasters and platforms.

Our growing scripted slate includes the riveting Israeli espionage thriller Tehran with rising star Niv Sultan and critically acclaimed actor Shaun Toub for KAN 11, airing globally on Apple TV+; the supernatural cult sensation Wynonna Earp; multi-award-winning Berlinale Series 2020 official selection Happily Married; and, the gripping Icelandic political drama The Minister, starring Ólafur Darri Ólafsson. These series sit alongside three seasons of Marcella, the International Emmy®-winning crime thriller for ITV and Netflix, which is being adapted for TF1 France as Rebecca and the highly rated hit Coroner inspired by the best-selling series of books by M.R. Hall, with Serinda Swan and Roger Cross, which is now in its third season. Established in 2002, Cineflix Rights is based in London and part of the Cineflix Media group of companies.

About Sagafilm
Sagafilm is the leading independent production company in Iceland for TV, Commercials and Feature Films with over 40 years of experience. Recent projects include the upcoming crime drama Sisterhood (Sky Studios), the political drama The Minister (Cineflix Rights) and the environmental thriller Thin Ice (in co-production with Yellow Bird (SWE)), drama series The Flatey Enigma (Sky Vision) Stella Blómkvist (Viaplay Original Series), CASE (Netflix Original Series), Pressa (Cover Story), Svartir Englar (Black Angels), Rettur (Court), and cult comedy series Næturvaktin, Dagvaktin and Fangavaktin (The Night Shift, Day Shift and Prison Shift). Sagafilm has also produced the feature films, the upcoming Icelandic/Polish feature Wolka (2021), The Falcons (2018), Mr. Bjarnfredarson, Cold Trail, Fish Out of Water and co-produced Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead and Nova Zembla. Sagafilm’s factual and documentary department works regularly for SVT, NRK, YLE, ARTE and BBC, the most recent projects include The Vasulka Effect and Out of Thin Air that was made for BBC Storyville, RUV and Netflix. TV series by Sagafilm have won the Icelandic Academy Awards “Eddan” for Best Scripted Series for a record of 10 consecutive times