Nova TV Bulgaria’s popular crime series The Hunt for Salamander has received new international recognition. The crime series won the award for best series in 2021 at the Madrid Film Festival. The forum is one of the most prestigious in Europe and is attended by influential European filmmakers every year. It is also one of the qualifying festivals for the largest cinema site IMDb.

"The success of the criminal production is a consequence of Nova Broadcasting Group's long-standing commitment to supporting the development of the Bulgarian film industry and working to strengthen its reputation in international markets," said Dirk Gerkens, CEO of Nova Broadcasting Group and Director of Programming, Production and Ad Sales of United Media.

The Hunt for Salamander now has a number of awards, most recently for Best TV Series of 2021 at the Buenos Aires International Film Festival. The premiere of the original production outside Bulgaria took place at the Series Mania festival in Lille in August this year.

The Hunt for Salamander which was the focus of the spring TV season of Nova in 2021, has an interesting and multi-layered plot, entangled in a mysterious murder that led to a tragedy with dramatic consequences in the lives of Inspector Kamen Petkov and his ex-wife - Senior Commissioner Ralitsa Petkova. The series also follows unusual criminal cases, touching on important universal themes such as unconditional parental love, retribution, cruelty, revenge and forgiveness. The images of the characters are magnetic and bright, causing conflicting emotions in the audience.

Behind the production is an experienced team of professionals and an impressive cast, including some of the most talented and famous Bulgarian actors with a number of roles in cinema and theater: Julian Vergov, Ana Papadopoulou, Hristo Petkov, Elena Telbis, Plamen Dimov, Ivan Burnev, Vessela Babinova, Koyna Ruseva and others. They are joined by Croatian star Iva Mihalic. The series was created on the idea of the screenwriter Alexander Chobanov. Dimitar Dimitrov and Viktor Bozhinov, well known for their work on some of the most successful Bulgarian productions in recent years, are the directors. The music for the series was specially created by Maxim Eshkenazi. Alexander Hristov (Albion Films) is the executive producer.