An eight-part drama series about the life and death struggle to enforce a UN-brokered ceasefire as peacekeepers face the harsh reality of living in Jadac, a fictional, Sarajevo-like town, premieres tomorrow at 10pm on Canadian TV. Its executive producer and director is Maltese Mario Azzopardi.

ZOS: Zone of Separation is a new eight-part drama series about the struggle of peacekeepers trying to enforce a ceasefire in the fictional, Sarajevo-like town of Jadac.

Each episode follows the tortured jockeying for influence and advantage by the town’s protagonists – unarmed UN Military Observers (UNMOs), armed UN soldiers, Christians and Muslims.

ZOS: Zone of Separation honours the absurdist reality of living in a violent Zone of Separation, as well as the real costs to the peacekeepers dropped in to police it.

Hope is possible in ZOS and it is prized – but it’s always hard-won.

Peacekeeping has pride of place in the Canadian national identity. It was, in fact, executive producer and director Mario Azzopardi’s pride in the country, which welcomed him as a young man from Malta almost 30 years ago, that was the catalyst for ZOS.

One of the things that always resonated with Azzopardi was that Canada’s army is dedicated to peace. “Peacekeepers are a Canadian invention,” explains Azzopardi. “Lester B. Pearson won a Nobel Peace Prize for its invention in 1957 and I couldn’t believe we don’t celebrate that.”

As a filmmaker who strives for originality in his projects, Azzopardi was looking for something that hadn’t been done before and it occurred to him that Canadian soldiers, who desperately try to NOT use their guns, was fantastic material.



The military observers

There are four military observers from four different nations in the Zone of Separation. They live together in a house that straddles No Man’s Land between the Christian and Muslin quarters. They work as unarmed street police/diplomats to observe, report and diffuse crises and maintain the fragile ceasefire. They move between the rival factions, always in danger, always distrusted – even by the armed UN soldiers.

They include: Captain Sean Kovacs (Michelle Nolden). Kovacs is the military observers’ team leader. A Captain in the Canadian Armed Forces, Kovacs is an Albertan who loathes Albertans. She’s the lone woman among the military observers and an expert at guiding herself through the dangerous macho world all around her. This is her third UN posting after Haiti and Sierra Leone. In UNMO parlance she is a swimmer, not a ‘non-swimmer’ – someone dedicated to making the job work. But as ZOS begins she’s already driving on empty, only half-way through her tour of duty but taking far too many chances. She’s the foul-mouthed angel at the heart of ZOS.

Captain Mick Graham (Allan Hawco). Graham is a captain in the British Army and a ‘newbie’ to the world of unarmed military observers. Jadac is his first posting.

The UN soldiers

The town of Jadac is policed by a 30-troop detachment. As ZOS opens, the UN is shipping out the laissez-faire peacekeepers from Third World Azerbaijan and replacing them with better-paid and less bribable Canadian soldiers. The Canadian detachment is a mixture of regulars and reservists. But for almost all the young men and women entering Jadac, this is their first taste of a Peace War.

The UN soldiers include: Major Gavin Hart (Rick Roberts) – Hart’s the Commander of the Canadian troops assigned to Jadac. He’s the ‘New Sheriff’ in this Wild East Town. Direct from combat in Afghanistan, he chooses to interpret the UN mandate aggressively. He’s also dealing, via a webcam hook-up, with a troubled domestic front. He left behind a wife who’s on the verge of divorce and turning towards fundamentalism as well as a handicapped daughter. His need to impose order stems, at least in part, from the disorder he left at home.

Lieutenant Richard Matteo (Peter Mooney) – Though only a reservist, Matteo is the unit’s second in command. He’s an engineer straight out of college. A true ‘newbie’ out of his depth in this turbulent ZOS and about to get an eyeful – including the beautiful figure of Natasa Vucovic, the army’s local translator.

(For more details and for some action from the series, access www.zostv.com)