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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Norway / Israel

Norwegian-Israeli thriller series Abducted set to premiere on TV2 in April

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- The ten-episode series is co-directed by Stian Kristiansen and Uri Barbash, and stars Andrea Berntzen, Anneke von der Lippe, Anders T Andersen and Shadi Mar’i

Norwegian-Israeli thriller series Abducted set to premiere on TV2 in April
Directors Stian Kristiansen (left) and Uri Barbash

A new ten-part thriller series, entitled Abducted, is set to premiere on TV2 Norway and TV2 Sumo on 11 April. The project, co-directed by Stian Kristiansen (the TV series Witch Hunt and Home Ground) and Uri Barbash (Kapo in Jerusalem), is based on a script penned by Kyrre Holm Johannessen and Ronit Weiss-Berkowitz.

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Abducted’s lead actors are Andrea Berntzen (U – July 22 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Erik Poppe
film profile
]
), Anneke von der Lippe (the TV series Atlantic Crossing, An Affair), Anders T Andersen (Gritt [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Itonje Søimer Guttormsen
film profile
]
, the series Atlantic Crossing) and Shadi Mar’i (April 7, 1980, the TV series Juda).

The story begins when a young Norwegian girl called Pia gets kidnapped in the Sinai desert with two Israelis. Her parents, Alex and Karl, are first deeply confused, and then shocked, as they didn’t know their daughter had travelled to the Middle East. The kidnappers have a simple request: 12 IS prisoners are to be released in Israel and one in Norway; otherwise, they will kill the hostages. As the authorities are slow to react, Alex, who has contacts in the Middle East from the time she worked on the 1993 Oslo Accords, decides to act. She reconnects with two former colleagues: Israeli Arik (played by Amos Taman), who is now a high-ranking Israeli politician, and Layla (Raida Adon), who might have a connection with Hamas.

Abducted was produced by Brede Hovland for Norway’s Monster Scripted and Israel’s Drama Team, and was co-financed by Israeli broadcaster HOT and Netflix. The film was shot in Norwegian, English, Hebrew and Arabic on location in Oslo, Eidsvoll, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and Eilat.

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