Canneseries has lined up world premieres of international titles including Apple TV+’s Franklin, Disney+’s Becoming Karl Lagerfeld and Netflix’s French comedy Fiasco for its seventh edition which runs in Cannes from April 5-10 in parallel with MipTV.
Franklin, produced by ITV Studios America with Apple Studios, stars Michael Douglas as the titular US founding father in a story about his time on a mission to France in 1776. Douglas, also an executive producer on the eight-episode limited series, is expected to attend the event.
“We can’t do a premiere in Cannes of Franklin without Franklin himself aka Michael Douglas,” Canneseries artistic director Albin Lewi told Screen of what he calls “the definition of a prestige series”.
Disney+ will unveil Becoming Karl Lagerfeld starring Daniel Bruhl as late fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld produced by Gaumont and Jour Premier.
Additionally, Netflix will give the festival’s signature pink-carpet treatment to Fiasco, an off-the-rails story about an actor shooting his first feature film that turns into a nightmare, created by local star actor Pierre Niney and Igor Gotesman.
Further premieres include Canal Plus’ Terminal, about a crew of loveable losers working for a low-cost airline. It is directed by Jamel Debbouze with Mohamed Hamidi, and produced by Kissman Productions and Quad.
International competition
Eight series will compete in the festival’s international competition, including To The Wonder about a young girl moving back from the big city to her hometown and Living On A Razor’s Edge about a socialist who returns to Brazil after political exile, from China and Brazil respectively. It is the first time series from the two countries have screened at the festival.
Also in competition are Denmark’s Dark Horse about a mother-daughter co-dependent duo who move from Shanghai to Denmark, and Norway’s Dumbsday about a group of survivors trying to save the planet from a virus attacking people’s brains causing intelligence to drop to dangerous levels.
From Belgium, mystery thriller Moresnet follows a man scarred by his past who returns to his native village and must save his childhood friends. Lewi described the series as “Dark meets Yellowjackets”.
Rounding out the competition are Serbia-Bulgaria co-production Operation Sabre about the assassination of the Serbian prime minister that plunges the country into chaos; German series The Zweiflers, a tragicomedy set in Frankfurt’s red-light district; and Spain-Sweden-Germany-Finland co-production This is Not Sweden about a family who move to an idyllic mountain neighbourhood where tragedy strikes the community.
Event highlights
The festival’s short-form series competition returns for its seventh year and a documentary series competition will be held for its second year with six series vying for the top prize. The festival has added a new sports focus in line with this summer’s Paris Olympic Games.
Other highlights include a visit from Jason Priestley and co-stars Vanessa Morgan and Giacomo Gianniotti for the premiere of CBC procedural series Wild Cards, TF1’s starry French series Broceliande and a focus on South Korean fiction.
On the business side, Canneseries continues to bank on its more intimate industry approach. The Canneseries x MIP Connection programme, now in its third edition, will bring together executives for round tables, cocktails and networking events, and its Canneseries Writers Club will host the fifth edition of its two-day event with 41 screenwriters.
“Our industry section is boutique. We hand-pick a small delegation to be productive and effective – it’s not a giant forum or market. There are real encounters happening,” Lewi says. “Everyone walks the Palais’ pink carpet steps together, they go to the soirées together and get to connect on another level.”
Kyle MacLachlan will receive the Canal+ Icon award for his career, while the UK’s Ella Purnell will be honoured with the Rising Star award. Purnell co-stars in Prime Video’s Fallout, a post-apocalyptic series based on the hit video-game franchise, also set for a gala screening.
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