4 Blocks
Genre	Crime drama Gangster drama[1]
Written by	Hanno Hackfort Bob Konrad Richard Kropf Marvin Kren
Directed by	Marvin Kren Oliver Hirschbiegel
Starring	Kida Khodr Ramadan Frederick Lau Veysel Gelin Almila Bagriacik Maryam Zaree Karolina Lodyga Massiv Sami Nasser Erkan Sulcani Rauand Taleb Emilio Sakraya Ronald Zehrfeld Oliver Masucci Ludwig Trepte
Composers	Stefan Will Marco Dreckkötter
Country of origin	Germany
Original language	German
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	19 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Eva Stadler Karsten Rühle
Producers	Quirin Berg Max Wiedemann Anke Greifeneder Hannes Heyelmann
Running time	51–59 Minutes
Production companies	Wiedemann & Berg Television Turner Germany
Original release
Network	TNT Serie
Release	May 8, 2017 (2017-05-08) – December 12, 2019 (2019-12-12)

4 Blocks is a German drama series. It stars Kida Khodr Ramadan as Ali "Toni" Hamadi, the leader of a drug cartel in Berlin-Neukölln which has strong connections with the Arab crime families including his clan. He is forced to postpone his plans to leave the business to live an ordinary life with his wife, played by Maryam Zaree, when his brother-in-law, played by Massiv, is arrested. He brings in Vince Kerner, played by Frederick Lau, a boyhood friend, to restore order in the family business, much to the dislike of Toni's brother Abbas, played by Veysel, who is eager to succeed him as the family leader.

The first season premiered on German pay television channel TNT Serie on May 8, 2017. A second season premiered on October 11, 2018 and a third in November 2019. Internationally, the series airs on Amazon Prime Video.

4 Blocks has received critical acclaim in Germany and has won multiple domestic awards, including the Grimme-Preis for Ramadan, Gelin, and director Marvin Kren, and six German Television Awards (Deutscher Fernsehpreis), including Best Drama Series, Best Actor for Ramadan, and Best Director for Kren.

Plot

The story begins with the Hamadis, a powerful Arab crime family in Berlin with links to the Al Saafis, who control Berlin's drug trade: Ali Hamadi, a wise man in the clan is calm and collected while his brother Abbas Hamadi is a hotheaded troublemaker. When business goes down with the Al Saafis and the Hamadis lose power because Latif Hamadi got arrested by the police, they have to find a way to keep their empire from collapsing while conflicts conflagrate about power, money, and traditions in the family.

Cast

• Kida Khodr Ramadan as Ali "Toni" Hamadi, the former leader of the Hamadi crime family. After planning to leave in order to live an ordinary life with his wife, he is forced back into business in order to protect his family.
• Frederick Lau as Vince Kerner, a boyhood friend of Toni and former member of the Southeast Warriors, who returns to Berlin after many years to assist him in restoring order in the family business.
• Veysel Gelin as Abbas Hamadi, Ali's younger brother and the designated new leader of his family's business.
• Almila Bagriacik as Amara Hamadi, Latif's wife and the sister of Ali and Abbas.
• Maryam Zaree as Kalila Hamadi, Ali's wife. She pushes Ali to leave the criminal activities of his family behind to start a legal life and obtain German citizenship.
• Karolina Lodyga as Ewa Niziol, Abbas's wife and the only non-Arab member of the Hamadi Family. She enjoys little respect within the family and pushes Abbas to strengthen his position against Ali.
• Massiv as Latif Hamadi, Amara's husband. He and Abbas organize the family's drug business through his car repair shop.
• Sami Nasser as Jemal Hamadi, a former member of the Southeast Warriors and one of the closest confidants of Ali and Abbas. He is responsible for the smaller crime businesses of the family.
• Erkan Sulcani as Ahmed "Kartoffel" Hamadi, part of the inner circle of the clan, who acts as one of the enforcers of the family.
• Rauand Taleb as Zeki, Issam's best friend and one of the Hamadi family's drug runners. He dreams of working his way up in the family's business.
• Emilio Sakraya as Issam, Zeki's best friend and one of the Hamadi family's drug runners. He is the more deliberate of the two, but Zeki often convinces him to actions which get him into trouble.
• Ronald Zehrfeld as Rainer "Ruffi" Ruff, the president of the Cthuhlu, a rocker club funded by drug trafficking and prostitution. In the light of the Hamadi family's supply difficulties, he tries to take over their territories in Berlin-Neukölln.
• Oliver Masucci as Hagen Kutscha, leader of the police's investigations of the Hamadi family.
• Ludwig Trepte as Nico, the Cthuhlu's drug runner. He tries to lure dealers away from the Hamadi, which causes conflict between him and Zeki and Issam.
• Mousa Suleiman as Halim Karami, Boss of the Karami Clan, one of the most powerful clans that controls Beirut and wants to control Berlin via the Arab crime families of Germany.

Production

The first episode of the series was shot in July 2016 in Berlin. Locations in the Neukölln and Kreuzberg boroughs were used including the Sonnenallee, the Kottbusser Tor subway station and Görlitzer Park. The budget for the first season was four million euros, including €250,000 they received from the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.^[2]

Release

The first two episodes of the series were shown on 15 February 2017 at the Berlin International Film Festival.^[3] The complete first season was broadcast weekly for six weeks from May to June 2017 on TNT Serie. It also aired on free-to-air channel ZDFneo in November 2018.^[1]

Amazon secured international broadcasting rights in more than 150 countries, with the first season added on Amazon Prime on October 5, 2017 and season 2 on December 15, 2018.^[4] In Summer 2018, it was released in 50 additional countries including Germany, France and Russia.^[1]

Episodes

See also

• List of German television series

References

External links

• 4 Blocks at IMDb