Four Quebec programs are attracting attention at MIPTV in Cannes. Zénith, Désobéir: Chantale Daigle’s choice, À cœur beating and Cœur de trucker were selected for Fresh TV, which brings together the productions to follow on the world stage.
La Belle Province has never hosted so many titles in this select club. “There is a great buzz surrounding Quebec productions,” comments Attraction President and Cœur du trucker producer Richard Speer.
“More and more, people are paying attention to what we’re doing,” adds Kathleen Préfontaine, director, distribution and development at Aetios, the À cœur beating box. It shows that we make great TV: creative and innovative. »
The unveiling of the lucky winners took place at the Claude Debussy Theater at the Palais des Festivals on Tuesday, during the major international TV content market, which is in full swing until Wednesday. This presentation by the design office The Wit, which monitors major trends on the small screen, is always popular. It rallies buyers (broadcasters, producers, distributors) from everywhere.
In addition to being chosen for Fresh TV Formats, Zénith has earned a place among the four new formats that have generated the most interest abroad over the past six months. The show hosted by Véronique Cloutier appears alongside blockbusters like Love for the Ages, a romantic reality show from giant Red Arrow Studios, and Finder
On the microphone in the auditorium, Wit president Virginia Mouseler described Zenith as “a competition in which four artists from four generations compete in front of 100 people divided into generations”. A trailer in English composed of excerpts from the performances of Éléonore Lagacé, Kim Richardson and Annie Villeneuve was also screened.
In an interview, the general manager of KOTV, Louis-Philippe Drolet, speaks of “great visibility” for the show, which will be back next season on ICI Télé. “It also gives a certain notoriety. It helps to clear the ground, because the whole industry knows the Fresh. People block their schedule to go there. »
The reality show Cœur de trucker, renamed Love Is a Highway for foreigners (in a nod to Tom Cochrane’s old success of 1991), also stood out in the eyes of the Wit. “It gives a lot, a lot of momentum,” says producer Richard Spear. It is also a source of enormous pride, because it is an original Quebec idea. »
Broadcast on Thursday evenings on Unis TV, the 10-episode series led by P-A Méthot gives four truckers the chance to meet singles who are not afraid of long-distance love.
For Richard Speer, this announcement confirms the international potential of Cœur de trucker. “The job of truck driver is not an obvious job to find a soul mate, a bit like the farmers [of Love is in the meadow]. We thought there was something going well. And oddly, but luckily for us, it’s a format that didn’t exist anywhere before. »
As for fiction, the selection of Désobéir: Chantale Daigle’s choice enchants its producer, Sophie Lorain, who wanted the heroine’s story, put together by Isabelle Pelletier and Daniel Thibault, to find an echo outside the borders of the Quebec. “It’s a show with a very homegrown subject matter, but its purpose is universal…especially with everything going on in the world,” notes the co-director of ALSO Productions.
Relayed by Crave, the biographical drama directed by Alexis Durand-Brault (Mégantic, Portrait-robot) relates how this woman victim of domestic violence fought all the way to the Supreme Court to claim her right to an abortion in 1989.
“It’s a series that seems to have sought out a younger generation, who were not or very little aware of the facts,” says Sophie Lorain. And even those who knew its outcome followed it like a thriller. It is extremely satisfying. »
Finally, for the team behind Beating Hearts, this is further proof that our TV “stands out”. Airing in January on ICI Télé, the most recent offering by Danielle Trottier (Unité 9) deals with domestic violence through the character of Christophe L’Allier (Roy Dupuis), who has become a psychoeducator within an organization who works with violent men.
Beating Heart and Disobedience: Chantale Daigle’s Choice swells a five-star list that includes international smash hits like The Swarm (Germany) and The Last of Us (US), the post-apocalyptic adaptation of a popular game video offered last winter on HBO.