Beta Film, ZDF/ARTE, and Antitalent partnered up to co-produce the six-hour crime drama Red Water based on Jurica Pavičić’s bestselling novel.
Red Water follows the disappearance of a 17-year-old girl in a small Croatian coastal town. Because of the pause in the police investigation and the public attention shifting elsewhere, the family takes the investigation into their own hands, which unfolds over nearly 30 years. The impact of war, loss, personal responsibility, and the transformation of an entire nation is explored through the investigation.
One of Croatia’s most acclaimed contemporary novels, Red Water ranked among the top 10 books of 2025 by both the Financial Times and the Sunday Times. The book received many literary awards, including five major literary prizes in France. The adaptation strengthens Beta Film’s strategy of developing internationally marketable European dramas rooted in acclaimed literary properties.
Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović is going to direct the project written by screenwriter Ljubica Luković. Danijel Pek is the producer. The crime drama is produced by Antitalent in co-production with ZDF/ARTE and Beta Film. Beta Film will also manage the worldwide distribution and international sales for the project.
According to Simon Ofenloch, Commissioning Editor at ZDF/ARTE, “With this accomplished novel as its foundation, the series provides a gripping crime story, full of suspense and mystery and featuring complex characters. A chronicle of social upheaval, it offers an effortless insight into the major historical events in the Western Balkans following 1989 and marks an authentic portrayal of the final years of Yugoslavia up to Croatia’s present-day tourist-driven landscape.”
Anna Rohde-Seyfried who is the International Creative Executive at Beta Film, said: “We are delighted to collaborate with ZDF/ARTE on Red Water. Driven by a shared commitment to fostering European stories and talent, this collaboration combines ARTE’s vision for distinctive European content with Beta’s expertise in bringing these productions to audiences around the world. We are very grateful for the creative mastery that our talented and visionary team including Antoneta, Ljubica, and Danijel bring to this project as they transform the acclaimed novel into a gripping and emotional series. Red Water takes us on a truly complex and thrilling journey, while exploring how war shapes people’s identity and society overall.”
Production of the drama is scheduled to begin in 2027.
Read more about Beta Film’s crime slate.
Source: Beta Film
