New German series shot in Hungary to premiere in spring

According to funzine.hu, the German public service ZDF channel is about to premiere its new movie series, Honigfrauen, shot in Hungary last summer. Tune in for the spy stories of the secret agents of the onetime German Democratic Republic at Lake Balaton this April.

According to the German tvwunchliste news site focused on series, the first part of the mini-series that consists of three 90 minute episodes will premiere on the 23^rd of April on ZDF. The other two episodes will be streamed on the following two Sundays in prime time.

As Daniel Mann, the producer of the movie, told MTI during the shooting in Zalacsány last October – among others he was the producer of Szabolcs Hajdu’s Bibliotheque Pascal – the series was fully shot in Hungary. According to the fictional story set in 1986, a young sister duo from the German Democratic Republic, Catrin and Maja spend their first vacation at Lake Balaton, where the East German secret agency, the Stasi’s agents watch over the relationship between GDR tourists and western guests argus-eyed.

Ben Verbong, the Dutch born director of the series, told MTI that the title of the series is a slight indication of how onetime GDR girls “clung” to West German and Hungarian men in the hope of marriage and leaving East Germany.

Petra Iványi, the chief production manager of the series produced by the German Seven Dogs and the Hungarian Filmteam Kft., said that most scenes were shot in Zalacsány and Fonyód during the 63-days-shooting, while some scenes were shot in Budapest, Keszthely, Tihany, Balatonföldvár and Kapolcs. They set up a contemporary camping in Fonyód, at the coast of the lake, while the Batthyány Castle Hotel of Zalacsány is called Balaton Residenz and is one of the main locations in the series.

The main characters are played by Sonja Gerhardt and Cornelia Gröschel known as former kid stars of several German series. Their mother is played by Anja Kling, one of the most employed German actresses. The Hungarian hotel manager, Tamás is played by the Croatian Stipe Erceg, who was the partner of Liam Neeson in Unknown and has played Hungarian characters several times before.

Hungarian actors like Dorka Gryllus, Gábor Csőre and Miklós Kapácsy also contributed to the German series along with hundreds of Hungarian extras.

Photos: www.facebook.com/ZDF

Copy editor: bm

Source: http://funzine.hu/