The Crave drama series Empathie, produced by Trio Orange in association with Bell Media, has won the audience award at this year’s Series Mania in Lille, France.

The award is voted on by the audience following all screenings except for short films.

The first two episodes of the 10 x 60-minute series (pictured) had their world premiere in the festival’s international competition, which ran from March 21 to 28. According to a previous release, it is the first series produced entirely in Quebec to take part in that competition.

The series — created, written by and starring Florence Longpré (Audrey est revenue) — follows a criminologist turned psychologist who meets an intriguing intervention officer at a psychiatric institute. Empathie is produced by Trio’s Sophie Bégin, Julia Langlois and Mélissa Tétu. Executive producers are Trio’s Annie Sirois and Carlos Soldevila.

Empathie is directed by Guillaume Lonergan and also stars Thomas Ngijol, Josée Deschênes, Benoît Brière, Brigitte Lafleur, Denis Bernard, Linda Malo, Lamia Benhacine, Adrien Bletton, Sofia Blondin, Lyraël Dauphin, Danielle Fichaud, Geneviève Alarie, Étienne Beland and Martin-David Peters.

Empathie was produced with the support of Bell Media, the Canada Media Fund, SODEC, the Telus Fund, the Quebecor Fund, Cogeco’s TV Production Program and federal and Quebec tax credits. Trio Orange is also handling international sales.

The series is set to stream on Crave on April 10.

Image courtesy of Bell Media; photo by Laurence Grandbois Bernard