Paris (AFP)

Netflix will inflate its production of series and films in France, where the American platform will develop in 2020 about twenty projects, she announced Friday at the inauguration of its new premises in Paris.

Among the new projects unveiled in the presence of the boss of the group Reed Hastings and a group of guests, several call on recognized talents from the cinema and the French audiovisual landscape.

They include "Bigbug", a film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. This futuristic comedy will count in its casting Elsa Zylberstein, Isabelle Nanty and Manu Payet.

The screenwriter Fanny Herrero (to whom we owe the France 2 series "Dix pour cent") is preparing a series in 6 episodes on young actors who want to break into the Parisian stand up scene.

The fantasy series "Mortal" will have a second season. And Julien Leclercq ("Braqueurs", "La terre et le sang") will make an action movie, "Sentinelle", with Olga Kurylenko.

These new additions to French productions already announced and whose distribution planned for 2020, such as the series "Arsène Lupine" with Omar Sy, the musical series by Damien Chazelle "The Eddy", the series "La Révolution" and "Vampires ", or even documentaries on the footballer Nicolas Anelka and the rap star Maître Gims.

In addition, the platform will strengthen its partnerships in training in the audiovisual and cinema professions, with establishments such as the École des Gobelins and La Fémis, or the 1000 Faces association.

With the opening of the new Parisian premises, installed between the Opera and the Madeleine Church, and which symbolize the group's return to the capital after a four-year eclipse, these programs mark a marked acceleration of the platform's investments in France, which should exceed 100 million euros this year, according to Reed Hastings.

This dynamic is nourished and encouraged by the strong growth of the Netflix subscriber portfolio in France.

The boss of Netflix revealed in an interview published by the weekly L'Express that Netflix now had 6.7 million subscribers in France (and many more users, accounts being very often shared by several), on a total of 158 million worldwide. This encourages him to strengthen his production of French content, to meet the requirements of the local public.

Still modest compared to the investments of French channels, the platform's three-color budget should continue to grow. And all the more so that the government wants to oblige platforms specializing in films and series, such as Netflix and Amazon, to invest at least 25% of their turnover made in France in the production of French or European works.

© 2020 AFP