Shooting has now begun in Prague on Empire Oktoberfest (also called Oktoberfest in pre-release notes), a new German miniseries which will detail the history surrounding the famed German beer festival.
Set in the year 1900, Empire Oktoberfest will chart the lives of those involved with Munich’s wealthy beer dynasties, and focus on a romance between a poor brewer’s son and a rich mobster’s daughter.
The six-episode series will star The Lives of Others’ Martina Gedeck alongside Klaus Steinbacher (Das Boot), Mišel Maticevic (Babylon Berlin), Michael Kranz (The White Ribbon), and Mercedes Mueller (Goodbye Berlin).
The series is being directed by Hannu Salonen (Shades of Guilt) from a script by Christian Limmer, Stephen Beltz, Christian Lex, and Ronny Schalk.
“The power-obsessed milieu of Munich’s breweries in 1900 is a fascinating setting for a series,” Empire Oktoberfest producers Michael Souvignier, Till Derenbach and Alexis von Wittgenstein stated in a press release.
“The contrast between roughness, gloom and the ease of the world-famous Schwabing bohemia with eccentric artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Thomas Mann is a great, exciting stage for a family epic of Shakespearian scale.”
Shooting on Empire Oktoberfest in Prague begun earlier in June and is expected to last through the end of the month.
After filming wraps in Prague, Empire Oktoberfest will also film on German locations in and around Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Empire Oktoberfest is being produced by Beta Film; the company also handled production the recent Norwegian series Atlantic Crossing, starring Kyle MacLachlan, which has been shooting in the Czech Republic over the first half of 2019.
Beta Film is also producing the eco-thriller series The Swarm, which is slated to be one of Europe’s highest-profile new TV series, and will be directed by Game of Thrones’ Alan Taylor, who is currently making The Sopranos movie.
Empire Oktoberfest is set to wrap its shoot in mid-August.
Lead image, Martina Gedeck in Empire Oktoberfest, via Beta Film
