La Rochelle’s Festival de la Fiction prepares for spotlight as Euro broadcasters look for content

Disney+’s French original Irrésistible, Canal+ legal drama Conviction, TF1’s Behind Closed Doors from Coda producers’ Jerico TV and Swedish thriller Evil are among the French and European titles that will premiere at France’s Festival de la Fiction, taking place in La Rochelle from September 12-17.

The event, which celebrates its 25^th anniversary in 2023, has long been a popular ‘back-to-school’ festival for the French industry, with a strong focus on French series, Its international appeal is growing and it has become a significant launchpad for European content. This year, organisers expect more international broadcasters than ever as the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes underline the need to shore up schedules with non- English-language fiction.

“International interest has exploded,” festival president Stephane Strano told Screen. “We’ve really been seeing this content spark interest from both Europe and the entire world.”

“International broadcasters have a big problem at the moment,” he continued. “They need to look all over Europe to find enough programming amidst the strikes in Hollywood and the good news is, we have it. We’re here for support before things kick back up again.”

La Rochelle saw a 30% jump in attendance last year as it gathered 2,800 industry professionals and garnered 15,000 admissions. International attendees this year will include execs from Germany’s Beta Films and ZDF, Norway’s NRK, Radio Canada, Germany’s Red Arrow Studios International, Belgium’s RTBF, Israel’s Keshet International and France’s Banijay Rights.

In total, 43 TV films and series have been selected to screen at the festival including 24 French titles.

France Télévisions is bringing a slew of series including Infiltré(e) about a chemist working for the police who infiltrates herself into a network of drug dealers, L’Enchanteur starring Charles Berling as famed French writer Romain Gary, and criminal justice thriller Sambre, starring Clémence Poésy, Olivier Gourmet and Noémie Lvovsky.

TF1 is showcasing the family drama Behind Closed Doors from Coda producers Philippe Rousselet and Eric Jehelmann’s Jerico TV, and Clara Laplace that stars veteran actress Muriel Robin as a woman forced to take sides when her grandson accuses his father of inappropriate behaviour.

Canal+’s slate is headed by Conviction, a legal drama from Spiral creator Anne Langlois; M6 has Vigilantes starring Eric Cantona, cooking drama The Beautiful Spark and 2015 French terrorist attack-inspired series Spies of Terror; while Arte is rolling out Jerome Bonnell’s TV film To Joy, The Blissful starring Call My Agent!’s Gregory Montel, and series Under Control starring Léa Drucker.

Prime Video will be back in town to preview its French-language productions including series Killer Coaster about a cop investigating a murder at a fairground and Olivier Abbou’s action feature Drone Games about a lonely teen who crosses paths with an anarchistic gang.

Romantic comedy Irrésistible about a podcaster suffering from panic attacks whenever she comes into contact with her crush, is the first Disney + series to screen at La Rochelle.

European series

Organisers said there were a record number of entries this year for the European competition that includes the world premiere of SF Studios’ Swedish series Evil from Jan Guillou for TV4 about violence at a boarding school.

Also screening as French premieres are Channel 5’s The Night Caller starring Robert Glenister, from the UK, RTÉ Ireland-Sundance Now’s suspenseful six-part thriller Clean Sweep created by Gary Tiech and starring Charlene McKenna Atresplayer’s Nights in Tefia from Spain, Germany’s SWR film Ramstein – The Pierced Heart, Finnish series The Short Fuse for YLE, NRK’s Norwegian crime parody What happened to Solveig? and Belgian-Dutch co-production Arcadia from VTR, KRO-NCRV and ARD/WDR and Denmark’s DR Drama’s Carmen Curlers and The Orchestra from Borgen creator Adam Price alongside Mikkel Munch-Fals.

The festival programme features roundtables, meetings and pitch sessions and a ‘Rendez-Vous with Francophone Creation’, aimed at bringing together international investors, producers, distributors and broadcasters of French-language series with international potential.

Around 250 meetings will be organised during the event that, in its five years of existence, has already seen projects born and financed including FTV’s Sambre produced by What’s Up Films and directed by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade that will premiere at this year’s event.

The festival has also partnered with the local branch of the European Audiovisual Writing Conservatory (CEEA) for a programme to train 12 aspiring TV writers. 

• Screen digital edition: August - September 2023