Foreign TV Series for Magnolia Awards | Hard-thinking Time of Extreme Confrontation!

As a blockbuster drama genre nowadays, the suspense drama with interlocking plots and interwinding storylines has long been the "favorite" of many audiences and won popularity around the world. For the Foreign TV Series unit of the Magnolia Awards for this year's Shanghai TV Festival (STVF), a number of reputed suspense dramas that have been occupying the TV screens worldwide in the past year have signed up one after another, and once again launched a fierce competition: VIENNA BLOOD Season 2 deduces and clears up the case with psychology and psychoanalysis, ALEX RIDER Season 2 is a sequel to the growth diary of young 007, IBIZA AFFAIR reveals the behind-the-scenes secrets of real historical events, WHITE NIGHTS opens the curtain for an impressive reasoning drama from a female perspective, STATION ELEVEN builds a new world view of "the present is the past"... These works, with intense dramatic conflicts and logical plot settings, set off on TV screens the extreme confrontations of intelligence and hard thinking.

VIENNA BLOOD Season 2 (Austria)

Written by SHERLOCK’s screenwriter Steve Thompson, VIENNA BLOOD Season 2, set in 20th-century Vienna, tells how the omniscient doctor Max Liebermann and the taciturn detective Oskar Rheinhardt work together to solve a case. The work is informed by a lot of classic theories of psychology and psychoanalysis. And the protagonist reason and clear up the case through "interpretation of dreams" with repeated suspense and rigorous logic. The fascinating natural scenery of Vienna, as well as the gorgeous and elegant costumes, exudes a strong atmosphere of German and Austrian classicism everywhere, seemingly bringing the audience back to that era in an immersive way.

ALEX RIDER Season 2 (UK)

Adapted from Anthony Horowitz’s novel, the ALEX RIDER series, this TV series tells the story of how Alex Rider grows from an ordinary high school student to a teenage agent. The work continues the stern style unique to British spy war dramas, but the rhythm is brisker with humorous elements studded properly. The protagonist, Alex, is not only a scholar, proficient in French, German and Spanish, but also good at mountaineering, diving, skiing, parkour and other extreme sports. The dazzling novel inventions, dense laughter-provoking designs, and fancy electronic-style soundtracks also cater to the aesthetics of teenagers today.

IBIZA AFFAIR (Germany)

Based on the "Ibiza Affair" that shocks the whole world, this fictional TV series uncovers the historical background of the incident, its fundamental causes and the match between various powers. In 2019, the "Ibiza Affair" triggered an unimaginable chain reaction in European politics. The play reviewed the development of the entire incident in flashbacks, taking on an "authentic documentary" style with multiple perspectives and full details.

WHITE NIGHTS (CANADA)

The work revolves around the bizarre death of Louise, an able businesswoman, and staged a "who is the murderer" reasoning drama. Louise grows up from a fashion supermodel to a formidable business elite and dies mysteriously in the garden at the peak of her career, getting all her relatives and friends stuck in turmoil. As a typical suspense and reasoning drama, the work touches on the rise of feminism as an echo to the theme today, painting the cold suspense shell with a touch of sensibility and warmth.

STATION ELEVEN (US)

An innovative TV series, Station ELEVEN, tells the story of the survivors trying to rebuild the world with art and humanity as the world plunges into an apocalypse due to catastrophic flu. The work, narrated with interlaced time and space and constructed symmetrically with metaphor, superimposes the "past" and the "present" layer by layer, and constructs step by step the world view of "there is no past, the present is the past" using the editing method of montage. In the work, survivors continue civilization in their own way, learn to say goodbye, and cherish the reunion, which is both poetic and healing.

The above foreign TV series, while not losing the hard-thinking and thrilling merits of suspense dramas, have also innovatively introduced historical, sci-fi, psychological, disaster and other elements for a mind-blowing effect. In terms of creative techniques and audio-visual experience, TV workers around the world have taken further the public's understanding of suspense dramas with unremitting efforts, and opened up the space for this type of TV series with the creative notion of seeking innovation and change. And Magnolia Awards, which brings together the latest masterpieces from all over the world, is also committed to presenting the new creative styles on TV screens worldwide for the industry and audiences.

From the selection for this year's Magnolia Awards, which works will stand out? Let’s wait together for the moment to end the "suspense"!