• The La Rochelle TV Fiction Festival opens its doors from September 14 to 19. 

  • Guillaume de Tonquédec will be the president of the jury.

  • On the programming side, Stéphane Strano promises "the best of the audiovisual re-entry", ie 25 unpublished French works in the official French Competition, 11 works in European Competition and 6 in French-speaking Competition.

"The festival is back in its city of heart", jubilant Stéphane Strano, president of the Festival de la Fiction de La Rochelle, this Wednesday during a press conference at the CNC.

After a 2020 edition relocated to Paris due to the health crisis, the 23rd edition of the great meeting of French, European and French-speaking fiction will take place again in La Rochelle from September 14 to 19 and will reconnect with "the sacred time of the meeting with the public ”, rejoiced Stéphane Strano.

A 23rd edition chaired by Guillaume de Tonquédec

This 23rd edition will be chaired by a figure well known to viewers, Guillaume de Tonquédec, the unforgettable Renaud Lepic from

Fais pas ci, faire pas ça.

  “I would like to share with you the pleasure I have had since the beginning of this summer in discovering a simple, clear and direct man, a committed, curious and studious president. A delicious and attentive man to whom I entrust with my eyes closed the heavy responsibility of welcoming French, European and French-speaking creation, ”Stéphane Strano said about him.

“I accepted straight away because I owe my vocation to the small screen. When I was very little, I watched television with my parents and most of all, I watched my parents watch the little box. And I said to myself, it's extraordinary, me, the child, I see my parents laughing, being touched, crying even in front of this little box and I said to myself, me, the child, if one day I could be in this little one. box to tell them stories to my parents, that would be great. I sincerely believe that it was the beginning of my vocation as an actor ”, confided Guillaume de Tonquédec. And to add: "I owe him so much on television that it was high time that I returned the elevator to him. "

At his side in the jury, the producer Emmanuel Daucé (

A French Village

), the screenwriter Natalie Carter, the actresses Anaïde Rozam and Anne Charrier, and the director Eloïse Lang (

Bitch

), and a composer whose name has not yet been unveiled. The jury was entirely chosen by Guillaume de Tonquédec. The actor had initially "made a whole list of friends". “You should take someone you don't know, it's always rich,” Stéphane Strano advised him. “Suddenly, I only took people I don't know,” the actor laughed.

The one who is currently playing

They were ten

on M6 chose "" people who for one reason or another whose course I admire, so that when the charts fall, I would of course be responsible, and them too, but let us tell ourselves it comes from them, we cannot say anything since it is an extraordinary jury.

The jury will award 15 prizes during a ceremony presented by comedian Matthieu Madénian.

Forty-two fictions presented

On the programming side, Stéphane Strano promises "the best of the audiovisual re-entry", ie 25 unpublished French works in the official French Competition, 11 works in European Competition and 6 in French-speaking Competition.

Regarding French creations, the long series category (52 minutes) will oppose in particular

Fugueuse

(TF1), adaptation of a Quebec series about a teenage girl sinking into prostitution with Michaël Youn, Sylvie Testud and Fanny Cottençon,

Mon Ange

(TF1), where Muriel Robin plays a mother in search of her missing daughter, but also the police drama of France Télévisions

I lied

with Camille Lou or

I killed my husband

(13th street), on domestic violence.

The subjects are no less gloomy on the television side, with

A la folie

(M6), on the hold of a narcissistic pervert stabbed by his companion, and

Boomerang

(France Télévisions, with Corinne Masiero), on the mobilization of employees of a printing press after the sexual assault of a colleague.

“It's a selection that seems black.

There are a lot of murders, a lot of disappearances, a lot of runaways, rapes, etc.

", Recognized Marc Tessier, president of the France selection committee, which reflects" a rather difficult world.

"

But "there are many optimistic, devoted characters", he underlines, considering that it is about the "contribution of the fiction to better living together".

The European selection will feature 11 dramas from nine countries including Russia, for the first time with

Mental

. The French-speaking selection is hosting for the first time two African series whose "quality increases every year", congratulated Carole Villeret, head of the European and French-speaking selection committee.

On the sidelines of the competition, the festival will also offer anticipated previews, such as the big cartridge of TF1,

A French Affair

on the Grégory Affair with Guillaume de Tonquédec and Blandine Bellavoir or Elementary Particles (France Télévisions), adaptation of the novel eponymous by Michel Houellebecq, worn by Guillaume Gouix and Déborah François, or L'Amour flou (Canal +), the serial adaptation of the eponymous film by Philippe Rebbot and Romane Bohringer. 

Nonna et ses filles

(Arte), also featured in Séries Mania, the fantasy signed and performed by Valérie Donzelli with Miou-Miou, Virginie Ledoyen and Clotilde Hesme, will also be presented to festival-goers. 

The compatibility of creation "with the audiovisual big bang"

The Festival's great debate questions the compatibility of creation "with the audiovisual big bang", in the light of the new funding obligations imposed on platforms and the planned merger between TF1 and M6.

An event which will be introduced or closed by the Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot.

Due to the pandemic, the general public is invited this year to register for free on the festival site from the end of August, to attend screenings and other meetings.

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Canneséries and Séries Mania festivals postponed to fall

  • Television

  • La Rochelle

  • Festival

  • Fiction

  • Series

  • Poitou-Charentes