\tGlobal powerhouse Fremantle, international streaming service Izzy, production house Abot Hameiri and Israeli broadcaster Yes have partnered on the distribution of drama series \u201cKugel,\u201d the prequel to the hit series \u201cShtisel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cKugel\u201d will launch on Izzy early next year, appealing to fans of the central characters of \u201cShtisel,\u201d Nuchem (Sasson Gabai) and his daughter Libi (Hadas Yaron).<\/p>\n
\t\u201cShtisel\u201d followed the lives of a tight-knit ultra-Orthodox family in Jerusalem. Previously available in the U.S. on Netflix, all three seasons of \u201cShtisel\u201d were acquired earlier this year by Amazon Prime Video. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cKugel\u201d is written by \u201cShtisel\u201d co-creator Yehonatan Indursky. The commissioning broadcaster is Yes, which holds rights in Israel. Fremantle handles global sales. It is produced by Fremantle, Fremantle\u2019s Abot Hameiri and Menuetto Film. \t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t \t\t\tPopular on Variety\t\t \t \t\t \t \tThe series takes places when Libi lived with Nuchem among the ultra-Orthodox community of Antwerp, Belgium, long before she met her future husband, Akiva Shtisel.<\/p>\n
\tNuchem is a charming jewellery dealer, unafraid of bending the rules to make a sale.\u202fBut when his wife Yides (Mili Avital) finally tires of his swindling and says she wants a divorce, their family life is thrown into disarray. Nuchem spends his days trying to save his marriage and achieve his dream of one day being a mogul, and his nights courting Pnina Baumbach, a recently widowed woman who inherited a restaurant that specializes in fine Jerusalem-style noodle kugels.<\/p>\n
\tThroughout the series, Nuchem must learn to balance his ambition in business with the needs of the three women in his life.<\/p>\n
\tIn light of her parents\u2019 crumbling marriage, and despite her age, 22, Libi is yet to find a suitable match. Instead, she devotes all of her energy and resources to becoming a successful writer. But then, a chance encounter with an Orthodox man on the Antwerp tram throws a wrench into her plans. Libi must decide whether the path to success for her lies in marriage, love or pursuing her dream of being an author.<\/p>\n
\tJens Richter, CEO, commercial and international, Fremantle, said: \u201cThe response to \u2018Shtisel\u2019 has been huge, capturing the imagination of millions of loyal fans. \u2018Kugel\u2019 follows a rich, warm, and compelling sequence of love triangles, broken promises and misunderstandings, told with humor, compassion and uncompromising humanity.\u201d \t<\/p>\n
\tNati Dinnar, co-founder and CEO of Izzy, said: \u201cAs a streaming platform, we understand the transformative power of an original, exclusive drama, and we\u2019ve been dreaming of this moment for a long time. But even in my wildest dreams, I couldn\u2019t have imagined partnering with such an incredible team on the most beloved TV brand to come out of Israel \u2013 \u2018Shtisel.\u2019<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSince acquiring all three seasons of \u2018Shtisel\u2019 on Izzy, we\u2019ve been eagerly awaiting this day. With millions of die-hard fans of the series, we\u2019re confident they will join Izzy to experience \u2018Kugel,\u2019 rediscover \u2018Shtisel,\u2019 and explore even more exceptional stories from Israel\u2019s storytellers. By doing so, they\u2019ll not only enjoy world-class content but also support Israel in sharing its vibrant storytelling with the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tDikla Barkai, head of drama at Abot Hameiri and executive poducer of \u201cKugel,\u201d said: \u201c\u2019Kugel\u2019 is a prequel to \u2018Shtisel,\u2019 created thanks to the immense love audiences have for the original series. With Izzy\u2019s partnership, the show can now return to the hearts of its passionate fans \u2013 there\u2019s nothing more exciting for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cKugel,\u201d which is comprised of eight episodes, is written by Indursky, directed by Erez Kavel. Executive producers are Dikla Barkai, Guy Hameiri and Eitan Abot for Abot Hameiri, Hattie Burles, Olivia Sleiter and Hilary Martin for Fremantle, Jay Ruderman for Boston Rose, Dganit Atias Gigi and Uzi Karin for Yes.<\/p>\n
\tKugel is supported by Screen Flanders and the Belgian tax shelter, in collaboration with BNP Paribas Fortis Film Finance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Global powerhouse Fremantle, international streaming service Izzy, production house Abot Hameiri and Israeli broadcaster Yes have partnered on the distribution of drama series \u201cKugel,\u201d the prequel to the hit series \u201cShtisel.\u201d \u201cKugel\u201d will launch on Izzy early next year, appealing to fans of the central characters of \u201cShtisel,\u201d Nuchem (Sasson Gabai) and his daughter Libi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22252,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-series"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}