Tired of reality shows this summer? It might be time to check out a new international series, or a new season of a returning favorite.
This August, Topic features a new season of the acclaimed French Canadian drama Happily Married, new German thriller Dark Rivers and season 1 of the Italian series Christian, available with English dubbing for the first time. Plus, The Silence, a film from Baran bo Odar, the creator of DARK and 1899 and Millennium, a serialized version of the Swedish movie trilogy The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.
Coming Soon to Topic: August 2023

CANADA • COMEDY
August 3 - Happily Married Season 2
**2022 Gémeaux Award Winner – Best Drama Series, Best Directing for a Drama Series, Best Original Script for a Drama Series**
Starring: Marilyn Castonguay (Ma Mére), François Létourneau (Série Noire), Patrice Robitaille (De Pierre en fille)
Synopsis: In the sleepy Sainte-Foy suburb of Quebec City in 1974, two couples in crisis drop their children at a summer camp. Once back in their routines at home, they realize that their marriages are falling apart. Infidelity and betrayal are exposed in broad daylight. But in a society where divorce is taboo, what will the two couples do? They will become the deadliest criminals in the history of organized crime in the Quebec region.
Season 2 opens in the Summer 1975. With the kids back at summer camp, The Delisle and Paquette families are regaining control of the criminal empire. The mysterious Sexists challenge Huguette Delisle, the new kingpin of Sainte-Foy. She questions if violence is the answer.
GERMANY • THRILLER SUSPENSE
August 10 - The Silence (Film)
**Baran bo Odar (creator of DARK and 1899), Winner, Directors to Watch, Palm Springs International Film Festival; Best Film nominee at 2011 German Film Critics Association Awards**
Starring: Ulrich Thomsen (Shining Girls, The New Pope), Claudia Michelsen (The Tower, Beat), Wotan Wilke Möhring (Tatort)
Synopsis: A 13-year-old girl vanishes. Her bicycle is discovered in the exact location, on the same date, where a teen girl was murdered in 1986. With no suspects and zero leads, individuals involved in the original case are forced to confront the past.

GERMANY • CRIME
August 17 - Dark Rivers
**2021 Romy Gala Best Actor in a Series Nomination – Michael Ostrowski**
Starring: Monika Bujinski (Marija), Timo Fakhravar (Ghost Island, A Thin Line), Daniel Flieger (The Old Fox, Tatort)
Synopsis: After a Berlin policewoman gives testimony against a powerful Arabic clan boss, she is forced to begin a new life with her daughter in Passau, the town on three rivers in lower Bavaria. The witness protection plan provides her with a new job, a fictitious biography, and a false name. Mother and daughter are then known as Frederike and Mia Bader. One day, Frederike runs into a dubious private detective, causing her to worry that he might expose her. Mia misses her old life and covertly makes contact, resulting in the little family’s whereabouts becoming public. With fatal consequences…

ITALY • CRIME
August 24 - Christian Season 1 (Now in English Audio)
**Cannes Series 2021 Official Competition – Best Music Award Winner**
Starring: Edoardo Pesce (Dogman, Boris), Claudio Santamaria (Casino Royale), Silvia D’Amico (Margini)
Synopsis: Christian, a resident of crime-ridden Città Palazzo on the outskirts of Rome earns his living doing the dirty work for Lino, the neighborhood crime boss. But when stigmata appear on his hands, Christian can no longer do Lino’s bidding. He also discovers he has gained mysterious healing powers which, if used correctly, would allow him to finally achieve a better life. With the help of the neighbor he saved from a drug overdose with his new abilities, Christian prepares for a fight with Lino. But he is being tracked down by Matteo, a mysterious Vatican postulator searching for signs and confirmation of a miracle that changed his own life as a child.

SWEDEN • THRILLER SUSPENSE
August 31 - Millennium Season 1
A serialized version of the movie trilogy “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “The Girl Who Played with Fire,” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.” Based on the book trilogy by Stieg Larsson
**2011 International Emmy Award winner for “Best TV Movie/Mini-Series”**
Starring: Noomi Rapace (nominated for International Emmy Award, Best Performance by an Actress), Michael Nyqvist (nominated for International Emmy Award, Best Performance by an Actor), Lena Edre, Sofia Ledarp
Synopsis: Emotionally scarred but technologically brilliant computer hacker Lisbeth Salander decides to help Mikael Blomkvist, the inquisitive journalist of the radical magazine Millennium, shed light on the unaccountable disappearance of Harriet Vanger who has been missing for 40 long years. As Mikael and Lisbeth go through piles of archives, newspapers, and photos with suspects to unearth the dark, ugly secrets of the cryptic Vangers, a well-planned conspiracy dating back to the 1970s begins to unravel, and no one is safe. More and more, as incriminating circumstantial evidence points to Lisbeth, the suffocating stranglehold of the police tightens, and Mikael must summon up every last ounce of courage to unearth a monumental government cover-up and the sinister machinations of corrupt jackals all hell-bent on silencing Lisbeth for good. What will it take to clear the name of Lisbeth Salander, the girl who kicked the hornet’s nest?