European TV

Yes, French TV meets UK TV in London in January next year for the fifth time and here are all the details:

Totally Serialized – Season 5
28-30 January 2016 at Ciné Lumière
From 28 to 30 January, Ciné Lumière will hold the 5th edition of Totally Serialized, the one and only TV series festival in London. Aiming to promote and improve collaboration between the UK and France, it will showcase the best of new productions from both sides of the Channel. Audiences will get a chance to attend exceptional preview screenings, meet creators and actors and uncover behind-the-scenes peeks.

Those last years of production have proven that TV series are more creative than ever. And more recently, the British TV industry has broken down frontiers, with international buyers moving away from a remake-centred strategy and now broadcasting the original series with subtitles. French shows such as The Returned, Witnesses, Braquo, Spiral, Hard and Maison Close from the French Pay TV channel CANAL+ have benefited from this shift, and have proven to be a success on Channel 4, FX, BBC Four and Sky Arts respectively. Just recently, BBC2 acquired Versailles, another French series.

One of the aims of the festival is to encourage this trend as well as co-productions which are also growing between the UK and France, as demonstrate successful series such as The Tunnel and The Last Panthers – both SKY/CANAL+ co-productions.

In the light of the growing demand for high quality European TV Drama, we organise an Industry dedicated programme on 28 & 29 January in association with Creative Europe Desk UK and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Aiming to foster international exchanges and co-productions, it will explore various aspects of the constantly-evolving field of TV series, and offer various networking and speed-dating sessions.

The first day will focus on producing and financing and the second day on TV writing, in partnership with BAFTA and the Society of the Dramatic Authors and Composers (SACD).

For the opening ceremony of the Festival, we are delighted to host the World Premiere of The Tunnel: Sabotage, Series 2, episode 1, courtesy of SKY and CANAL+. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with key creatives and an Industry cocktail, organised in partnership with CANAL+.

Other highlights include an all-night marathon of all three series This is England 86, 88 and 90, attended by talents and shown on the big screen for the first time, a not to be missed treat for the fans.

French comedies are also on the menu with recent smash hit Call My Agent! directed by Cédric Klapisch (Pot Luck) and featuring an all-star cast mocking themselves, and A Very Secret Service, created by OSS 117 scriptwriter Jean-François Halin: a chauvinistic comedy show — the French missing link between James Bond and The Office.

The Festival will also feature political thrillers such as Black Baron centered on the raise for power of a French politician with Kad Merad, and The Bureau, created by Eric Rochant, a high-octane drama on the French secret services, with Mathieu Kassovitz in the lead role.

Last but not least, we invite the audience to give their views on TV series in our Café Philo and kids and families to discover the animated TV series The Long Long Holiday by the producers of Belleville Rendez-vous.

Totally Serialized is curated by Lorraine Sullivan, coordinated by Priscilla Gessati and organised by the Institut français du Royaume-Uni, in association with: the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), Creative Europe Desk UK, CANAL+, Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers (SACD), TV France International, Europe Créative Bureau France, France 24 and C21 Media.

The French Institute web site is down right now, but more information is usually available from www.totallyserialized.co.uk. No trailer as of yet, either, but here’s one for last year’s, as well as trailers for Black Baron (Baron noir) and A Very Secret Service. Stay tuned and there’s the possibility I might be running a competition – how exciting!