Filming Begins for ARD Series “Im Tal” (AT) | Niki Stein Directs New Series Set in the Ahrtal

The fictional series “Im Tal” (AT) tells in four episodes about the century flood that irrevocably changed the lives of people in the Ahrtal on July 14, 2021. For the two friends Lena and Nicola and their families, everything that seemed secure until now is called into question: their friendship, their future, their lives. The series has been filming since May 19 in Belgium and later in the Ahrtal. “Im Tal” (AT) by writer and director Niki Stein is a production by 307 Production in co-production with SWR, ARD Degeto Film, and WDR for Das Erste and the ARD Media Library.
The series centers on five young people, all grown up in the Ahrtal and on the verge of realizing their life dreams, and their families. Some of them serve as members of the volunteer fire department on the night of the flood. They attempt in a race against time to help as many people as possible, while as the night progresses, more and more people wait for help and are at the mercy of the situation. After the flood, the events are reconstructed in interviews to understand how the disaster could reach such proportions. The fictional series “Im Tal” (AT) tells from different perspectives and on different time levels about grief and anger, overwhelm and responsibility, but also about solidarity, from which a new beginning can emerge.

Sensitive and Substantive

Clemens Bratzler, SWR Director of Information Programming: “Since the devastating flood night in July 2021 with 135 deaths, SWR has closely and sustainably accompanied the people and developments in the Ahrtal through journalism. With the high-caliber cast series ‘Im Tal’ (AT) for Das Erste, we want to help ensure that the events of this fateful night, as well as the challenges and achievements that followed, are not forgotten. Niki Stein has written a sensitive screenplay that emotionally and substantively shows how young people and their families must face their fate and how their lives in the valley can continue afterward.”

Featured in the ensemble
before the camera of cinematographer Willy Dettmeyer are Antonia Moretti, Louis Nitsche, Lilly Charlotte Dreesen, Alessandro Schuster, and Riccardo Campione, together with Stephan Kampwirth, Thomas Loibl, Anneke Kim Sarnau, Sophie von Kessel, Silke Bodenbender, Tatiana Nekrasov, Heino Ferch, Joachim Król, Margarita Broich, and many others.

Producer is Simone Höller (307 Production), Executive Producer is Juliane Thevissen, editorial oversight lies with Monika Denisch and Manfred Hattendorf (SWR), Christoph Pellander (ARD Degeto Film), and Sophie Seitz (WDR).
The broadcast date for the series is not yet known.

Press Contact: Annette Gilcher, SWR, Tel. 07221 929 2 40 16, annette.gilcher@SWR.de Barbara Schmidt, Schmidt Schumacher Press Agency, Tel. 030 26 39 13 0, info@schmidtschumacher.de

Erstausstrahlung

· SWR, ARD Degeto Film, WDR

Director

Niki Stein

Script

Niki Stein

Cast

Antonia Moretti, Riccardo Campione, Alessandro Schuster, Lilly Charlotte Dreesen, Louis Nitsche m.m.