ZOS: Zone of Separation starts production

From a media release:

The Movie Network and Movie Central Announce Start of Principal Photography on Whizbang Films’ Gripping Series ZOS: Zone of Separation

Starring Colm Meaney, Lolita Davidovich, Michelle Nolden, Rick Roberts, Enrico Colantoni & Allan Hawco and Executive Produced by Paul Gross, Frank Siracusa, Mario Azzopardi & Malcolm MacRury

Whizbang Films, in association with The Movie Network and Movie Central, announced today that production has begun on ZOS: Zone of Separation, an eight-part drama series about the life and death struggle to enforce a United Nations-brokered ceasefire, as peacekeepers face the harsh reality of living in Jadac, a fictional, Sarajevo-like town. ZOS: Zone of Separation shoots in Tuzla, Bosnia, through June 28 before returning to Canada where production will continue in Toronto, Ontario, through October 1, 2007.

Executive produced by Paul Gross, Frank Siracusa, Mario Azzopardi and Malcolm MacRury, the original series stars Colm Meaney, (Star Trek: The Next Generation & Deep Space Nine) Lolita Davidovich (Gods and Monsters, The L Word, The Agency), Michelle Nolden (Men With Brooms, Hemingway vs. Callaghan, Street Time) and Rick Roberts (Angela’s Eyes, Man of the Year, This is Wonderland) along with Enrico Colantoni (Veronica Mars, Just Shoot Me, Galaxy Quest) and Allan Hawco (Closing the Ring, Above and Beyond). Mario Azzopardi (Still Small Voices, The Outer Limits, Savage Messiah) will direct the series, with Malcolm MacRury as writer and show-runner.

“ZOS: Zone of Separation is a concept that emerged from the fact that Canada is a peacekeeping nation with a peacekeeping force,” said executive producer Frank Siracusa. “Thematically, ZOS: Zone of Separation is about the warfare of peace, where we get to see a society rise from the ashes of war through the eyes of the peacekeepers assigned there, and the Christians and Muslims who live there. By fictionalizing the story, we can draw from all kinds of real-world conflicts and events, such as Kosovo, 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq.”

ZOS: Zone of Separation also stars Nick Mancuso (Lives of the Saints, Total Recall, Ticket to Heaven), Paul Doucet (October 1970, The Rocket), Jim Codrington (Da Vinci’s City Hall, Odyssey 5), Peter Mooney (Falcon Beach, Run Robot Run!), Joanne Boland (Slings and Arrows, King of Sorrow) and Alan C. Peterson (Smallville, Obituary). Additional cast members include Lisa Ray (Water, Bollywood/Hollywood) and Paulino Nunes (The State Within, The Trojan Horse, At the Hotel).

Each episode follows the Zone’s protagonists in their tortured and tenuous jockeying for influence and advantage – from unarmed United Nations Military Observers (UNMOs) and armed UN soldiers to Christians and Muslims.

“The series honours the absurdist reality of living in a violent Zone of Separation; as well as the real costs to the peacekeepers literally dropped in to police it,” said executive producer and director Mario Azzopardi. “It’s fast-paced, gritty and heartfelt.”

ZOS: Zone of Separation was written by Malcolm MacRury (Deadwood,Canada Russia ’72, Lives of the Saints), Peter Mitchell (Cold Squad, October 1970, Traders), Jason Sherman (ReGenesis), John Krizanc, (The Trojan Horse, H2O) and Paul Aitken (North/South, The Associates). Andrea Raffaghello (Post Impact, Lexx: The Dark Zone) is producer. Director of Photography is John Dyer (Lies and Crimes, The One) and Gavin Mitchell (Touch of Pink, The Wives He Forgot) is the Production Designer. Michelle Marion from Astral Media’s The Movie Network and Shelley Gillen, from Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central are the production executives overseeing this series.

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