East Doc Platform is proud to announce that The Council of Europe, home of Eurimages, enhanced this year’s award ceremony, hosted by the French Institute on March 19, with a new special award.
The international jury decided that the The Council of Europe Series Co-Production Development Award 2025 goes to NEAR LIGHT - Second Lives of Murderers (dir. Niccolò Salvato, prod. Mara Cracaleanu (Melancholia Pictures), Romania, Italy, Czech Republic).
About the project: The lives of three young inmates interweave as they strive to rebuild their lives, grappling with guilt and societal misconceptions. From the Czech Republic to Italy and Romania, the protagonists gain exclusive access to a rehabilitation program that allows them to travel from prison to work each day, existing in a limbo between incarceration and the outside world. The series is character-driven, with each episode exploring a core theme of reintegration. Parental relationships serve as a narrative thread, anchoring the dramatic reconnection of the young inmates with society. Each story highlights the duality of their lives, with the mystery of their crimes gradually unfolding through suspenseful cliffhangers at the end of each episode. The justice system provides a backdrop, revealing the varied approaches across countries and sparking a broader discussion about second chances. These extraordinary life stories are examined through a human, intimate, and subjective lens, capturing the inmates’ struggles and aspirations as they attempt to build a new life. As we delve deeper into their journeys, one question emerges: can a life be rebuilt while another has been taken?
The jury’s commentary about the choice of the winner:
“The Council of Europe Series Co-Production development award goes to an exceptional project that gives a voice to individuals struggling to reintegrate into society. The creator's multi-layered approach to their personal stories helps to humanise these individuals. It proposes a moving alternative narrative to the dominant fictional version of murderers in a clear dramatic structure.
The award goes to “Near Light – Second Lives of Murderers.”
The Council of Europe Series Co-Production Development Award 2025 is intended to foster creative collaborations in series co-production and empower independent producers and comes in the form of a financial support of €50,000. Through the Pilot Programme for Series Co-productions, within which the award was created, the CoE points at providing recognition and access to crucial market exposure to talented independent producers.
The award is being hosted by the East Doc Platform 2025 as a way of specifically supporting Central and Eastern European producers. The East Doc Platform is very honored to have been chosen among only three European film markets to host this prestigious award, alongside CineLink Drama (Bosnia and Herzegovina), and TV Beats Co-Financing Market – Industry@Tallinn (Estonia).
The jury of The Council of Europe Series Co-Production Development Award 2025 were:
Michael Kaschner
Occupation: Commissioning Editor
Company: ZDF – Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen
Country: Germany
Michael Kaschner has worked as a freelance content creator, screenwriter, and director in the field of factual entertainment. In October 2013, he became Senior Producer at ZDF Digital Medienproduktion GmbH, where he supervised a network of over 100 freelance authors across various formats. Alongside his work in 360° storytelling and interactive VR, he established a fiction department focused on developing serialized, episode-spanning narratives. Since October 2018, he has been a Vice Commissioning Editor at the German public broadcaster ZDF, overseeing the series Terra Xpress. In addition, he serves as a guest lecturer at the Center for Media Competence (ZFM).
Barbara Bouillon
Occupation: Commissioning Editor
Company: ARTE G.E.I.E.
Country: France
Barbara Bouillon is a commissioning editor for the documentary slot THEMA at ARTE G.E.I.E. in Strasbourg, France. After studying Slavic studies in Berlin and Moscow, she joined ARD-TV station Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg, working on their German-Polish TV program, news, and cultural talk shows. In 2007, she moved to the ARD office for Austria and Southeastern Europe in Vienna, later becoming a commissioning editor at SRF Zurich in 2012. Since 2013, she has been producing investigative and geopolitical documentaries at ARTE Strasbourg, including Russland – Geknebelte Freiheit (2022), Die Unsichtbaren – Arbeiterinnen aus Osteuropa (2024), and Russland, China, Iran – Front gegen den Westen (2024). Bouillon is fluent in Polish and Russian.
Alessia Sonaglioni
Occupation: Funding Representative
Company: Council of Europe
Country: Italy
Alessia Sonaglioni is a lawyer specializing in European audiovisual production and gender equality. In 2023, she took on the role of Programme Manager for the Pilot Programme for Series Co-Productions at the Council of Europe. From 2010 to 2022, she managed cinema co-production projects at the Eurimages Film Fund, and between 2016 and 2021, she served as Executive Director of the EWA Network, a non-profit organization supporting female professionals in the European audiovisual sector.
