Four projects from French and Canadian producers have been selected for a workshop at the Banff World Media Festival (BANFF) as part of the the Canada-France Series Lab.

The joint venture was first announced last November between BANFF, the Series Mania Forum, Telefilm Canada, and the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée. It aims to develop new coproductions between Canadian and French producers for the international marketplace, according to a news release.

Fifteen producers from each country were originally announced in February to participate in Series Mania Forum 2023 to meet their French/Canadian counterparts and form pairs. From that group, producers representing four projects were selected to bring their projects to the workshop at BANFF, which runs June 11 to 14 in Banff, Alta.

Chosen projects unveiled Monday (June 5) include the 6 x 52-minute Brave, produced by Tatiana Maksimenko for France’s Effervescence Production and Marie-Hélène Lebeau-Taschereau for Quebec’s KOTV. Inspired by true events, the drama follows a harrowing story of a legal battle of a young Canadian woman.

The 6 x 60-minute Foleys is produced by Chantal Lafleur for Quebec’s Avenida; Renée Blanchar for Caraquet, N.B.-based Ça Tourne (represented by Colette Mallais in Banff); and Edyta Janczak-Hiriart for France’s Kometa Films. The drama centres on a woman’s attempt to break a cycle of family violence.

For the historical drama Radisson, the Iroquois, the producers are Jason Brennan for Quebec-based Indigenous content company Nish Media and Hugo Brisbois for France’s Oble. The 6 x 52-minute project is about French settler Pierre-Esprit Radisson, who was captured and adopted by the Iroquois in 1650s Quebec.

The 6 x 60-minute Temple is a thriller produced by Marc Andreani and Vivien Desouches for France’s L’Étoile Noire Production, and Valérie d’Auteuil for Montreal-based Caramel Films. Set in June 1995, the series sees a police officer get arrested in France after six months on the run.

The lab is created in partnership with the Embassy of Canada in France, the French Embassy in Canada and the Canada Media Fund, in collaboration with the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, the Alliance des producteurs francophone du Canada, the Canadian Media Producers Association, Creative BC, the Indigenous Screen Office and Ontario Creates.

It offers a year-long program to help participants prepare pitch presentations for their series in front of a global audience at the 2024 Series Mania Forum, which will run in Lille, France from March 19 to 21, 2024.

Participants were selected by a jury of that included Christine de Bourbon-Busset, producer, Lincoln TV; Sydney Gallonde, CEO and executive producer, Make It Happen Studio; Christina Jennings, president and chairman, Shaftesbury; and Daniela Mujica, executive producer, Productions Ocho. The jury was presided over by Emmanuelle Guilbart, joint CEO and founder, About Premium Content.

The BANFF workshop will be followed by a virtual coaching cycle from September 2023 to March 2024.

The goal of the program is to “result in a number of great new series and further strengthen the relationships between Canadian and French producers,” said Jenn Kuzmyk, executive director, Banff World Media Festival, and VP and publisher of Playback, in a statement.

Photos courtesy of BANFF; picture (L-R): Tatiana Maksimenko, Marie-Hélène Lebeau-Taschereau, Chantal Lafleur, Colette Malais, Edyta Janczak-Hiriart (top), Jason Brennan, Hugo Brisbois, Valérie d’Auteuil, Marc Andreani and Vivien Desouches (bottom)