British distributor Videoplugger and Estonian content creator Itamambuca Filmproduction announced that Pank (The Bank) has been picked up in a deal with MTVA and will air on Duna, M2 and M5, with Hungarian dubbing.

The plot follows the rise of an Estonian bank during the turbulent '90s just after the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the Soviet Union. Zoltán Nevelős, Head of Acquisitions, MTVA, commented: “The Bank has been a great discovery for us, one of the most inventive, thematically and stylistically most exciting series this year, and one for which we thought it is worth taking the risk for all its unusual qualities. There is an appetite for great new European drama among our viewers, and there is definitely great interest in exploring – in such an innovative and entertaining way – the dramatic changes our Eastern-European societies went through in the early 1990s.”

The series has also been picked up in a deal with Lithuanian Radio and Television (LRT) and will air on LRT Televizija and LRT Plius, with Lithuanian voiceover. Junita Budvytiene, LRT Head of Acquisitions, commented: "We are very excited to have the series The Bank (on our channel. The broadcast will start in September on our main channel LRT Televizija. The theme and the facts in the series are very close to how our reality was in the '90s. More and more programs now are created analyzing the events that happened at that time, more people start discussing why those years were tough both for people and the growth of the countries. It's a part of our history on the verge of changing systems, relations, values, lives of people. The series brings us back to those years which we can now evaluate more critically and judge from a larger time gap. The series should attract both the older generation and the younger ones which are keen to know and feel that period of history."

CEETV reminds that the series was also aired by Latvia’s LTV1.

In other news, Videopluger announced that Russian drama The Sect has been picked up by Walter Presents for the UK and Ireland. The Sect follows psychotherapist Demidov (Evgeny Koriakovsky) and Lilya a nurse played by Svetlana Khodchenkova (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) Demidov, manages a covert sect – deprogramming venture, specializing in controversial methods of liberating members from dangerous sects.

Walter Iuzzolino, Co-founder & Curator Walter Presents, said: “I’ve been looking for a glossy, gripping, contemporary Russian series for some time and this one has definitely been worth the wait. The Sect is a beautiful, haunting psychological thriller with an original story and a bold cinematic approach. Unflinchingly honest, at times brutal with a distinct uncompromising Russian flavor, this is an exciting first foray for Walter Presents into a previously untapped region.”