Filming For ‘The Best Immigrant’ Begins With All-Star Cast
Streamz today announced the start of filming for the long-awaited fiction series ‘The Best Immigrant’, winner of the first edition of Streamz Academy. The series brings together an impressive cast with established names such as Jennifer Heylen, Saïd Boumazoughe, Greg Timmermans, Louis Talpe, Charlotte Timmers, Ruth Becquart, Bert Haelvoet and Marjan De Schutter. In addition, the series also gives a stage to promising emerging talent, including Noa Tambwe Kabati, Tama Theophore Kabeya, Lauren De Bie, Laura De Geest and Evelyne Chen. The Streamz Original ‘The Best Immigrant’ will be shown exclusively on Streamz in the fall of 2025.
In ‘The Best Immigrant’ we follow the couple Muna and Jamal. When the new far-right government of Belgium decides to send all people who were not born here back to their country of origin, the couple decides to risk everything by participating in “The Best Immigrant”, a ruthless game show with the main prize… a residence permit.
The series is based on an idea by young screenwriters Cristina Poppe and Raoul Groothuizen . In 2023, they took part in the first edition of Streamz Academy, a development trajectory from Streamz to support emerging writing talent in the sector. Out of no fewer than 534 entries, the duo was able to convince Streamz and the professional jury to convert their idea of ’The Best Immigrant’ into a full-fledged thriller series. The young writers were further assisted by experienced screenwriters Michel Sabbe (‘Styx’), Hasse Steenssens (‘Geldwolven’) and Michael De Cock (‘Geldwolven’).
The intriguing premise of ‘The Best Immigrant’ managed to attract established names and emerging talent. The full cast consists of Jennifer Heylen (‘Jackson & Malone’), Farouk Ben Ali (‘Without Appointment’), Saïd Boumazoughe (‘Mocro Mafia’), Greg Timmermans (‘Moresnet’), Louis Talpe (‘Onder Vuur’), Charlotte Timmers (‘Safe Harbor’), Ruth Becquar t (‘Déjà-Vu – Everything is Predestined’), Bert Haelvoet (‘Why Wettelen’), Marjan De Schutter (‘De Twaalf’), Laura De Geest (‘Roomies’), Lauren De Bie (‘2DEZIT’), Noa Tambwe Kabati (‘Kameleon’), Tama Theophore Kabeya (‘Kameleon’), Evelyn Chen (‘Milo’), Aaron Wan (‘The White Tiger’), Noah Mavuela/Yung Mavu , Jérémie Makiese , Sverre Rous (‘Dealer’), Adil Aarab , Tyler Groosman , Khadija El Idrissi El Yacoubi , Aline Cornelissen , Saloua Hassani , Mariam Hakobyan , Fares , Zuri Bukuru , Niyara Hens and Marcel Vandamme .
Already an award for Streamz Original ‘The Best Immigrant’
Even before the Streamz Original went into production, ‘The Best Immigrant’ won a Special Mention of the Paramount New Stories Awards at the MIA Market in October at the Rome Film Fest, the largest Italian market for international pitches for co-productions in the drama series category. With the Paramount New Stories Award, MIA recognizes the series as groundbreaking, because it represents new, underrepresented voices, breaks down barriers and shows multiple perspectives.
The production is in the hands of Caviar & Lompvis. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are on board as executive producers. The direction is in the hands of rising talent Michael Abay who previously won an Ensor for his short film ‘Klette’ and also directed several episodes of the Ensor-nominated Streamz Original ‘Kameleon’. With this choice, Streamz remains true to its mission to support and strengthen young talent within the sector.
During the first edition, ‘The Best Immigrant’ by Cristina Poppe and Raoul Groothuizen was chosen as the best idea for a Streamz Original. Production companies Caviar & Lompvis will take on the production with Adil El Arbi and Billal Fallah as executive producers with development support from the Flemish Audiovisual Fund. In addition, the economic fund Screen Flanders and Caviar Film Financing also invested in the project. The series’ screenwriters are Michel Sabbe, Hasse Steenssens, Michael De Cock, Raoul Groothuizen and Cristina Poppe. Michael Abay will direct. The thriller will be shown exclusively on Streamz in the fall of 2025.
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