At the “Festival de la Fiction” in La Rochelle, France, awards were presented in five categories for French productions, as well as a prize for the best European series. A total of eleven series were nominated in this category, including the BBC production “Danny Boy,” the ITV series “Too Close,” and the ZDF series “Breaking Even.” In the end, director Felix Stienz accepted the award for ‘Unter Freunden stirbt man nicht’ (You Don’t Die Among Friends), visibly overwhelmed. In addition to thanking his team and cast, he gave special thanks to the city of La Rochelle and chose to end his acceptance speech before, as he put it, ‘I have another heart attack.’

The series, written by Claudius Pläging, tells the story of four friends (Adele Neuhauser, Iris Berben, Heiner Lauterbach, Michael Wittenborn) who try to cover up the death of their friend (Walter Sittler) for five days. This is the only way he can win the Nobel Prize, as it is awarded only to individuals who are still alive at the time of the announcement.

'Unter Freunden stirbt man nicht' was produced by Christina Christ and Axel Kühn for the Munich-based production company 'Keshet Tresor Fiction' in the summer of 2020 for TVNow and VOX, with support from the Film- und Medienstiftung. Due to the COVID-19 situation, filming had already been postponed and could only take place under extremely difficult conditions.