20 lives

SHAVO [SHAH-vo], the best fin swimmer in the nation, has no equal in water. His sporting achievements at the age of 22 brought him national fame, but his goal is the World Championship in Munich.

Shavo is excited to be a part of the competition. He’s on cloud nine about his upcoming wedding with ALISA, his beloved fiancée.

Despite achieving the top result during the qualifying stage of the World Championship, and much to everyone’s surprise, Shavo does not get selected for the Team.

His dreams are shattered, but his will is not broken — and with an even greater zeal, he starts training intensively for the next championship.

His pillar of support is his COACH, who has turned down an o er to train the National Team due to their rejection of Shavo. Believing that Shavo is unique, and the one who should be representing the country at the international level, the coach creates a special training program for Shavo.

This humanly impossible rescue operation puts an end to Shavo’s career. A massive blood sepsis from his injuries and a double pneumonia leave Shavo fighting for his life.

No one believes that Shavo can ever be a competing athlete again, not even Shavo himself. In saving others, he lost his love, Alisa, and his faith in his future.

Shavo eventually finds a way to challenge himself, and returns to his training.

But on the very first day, right after jumping into the water, he suddenly finds himself gasping for air, blood running from his nose.

His doctor shocks him with the diagnosis — it was the incident that has triggered this rare life-threatening condition of severe water allergy that will prevent Shavo from entering water ever again.

His will unbroken, he decides to continue his training out of water, next time facing it only at the starting line to break the World Record for the 11th time.

It wasn’t until 6 years after the tragedy that an article called “The Underwater Battle of a Champion” appeared in a national newspaper, revealing the details of the incident and the person who saved so many lives.

Shavo never looked for recognition or fame for his heroic feat, but the article stirred the entire nation, prompting letters of love and gratitude from all over the country. Not only did Shavo receive 75,000 letters after the article was published, the newspaper itself received twice as much - over 150,000.

Even these days Shavo keeps receiving these letters.

  • Title: 20 lives
  • Genre: Survival drama
  • Country of origin: UK, Belgium, Germany
  • Language: English
  • Status: Development
  • Written by: Peter Winther, Svetlana Migunova-Dali
  • Co-producers: David P. Kelly, Jean Luc Van Damme. Executive producers: Peter Winther, Julia Kim-Von Den Driesch
  • Producers: Svetlana Migunova-Dali, Olga Sinelshchikova-Arakelian, Natalia Rogal