Duster HBO

Source: HBO

‘Duster’

The international premiere of JJ Abrams’ 1970s crime thriller Duster for Max and the world premieres of AMC’s The Walking Dead: Dead City and Max’s French-language crime thriller Malditos are among the series set to screen at the eighth edition of Canneseries, taking place from April 24-29.

Duster and The Walking Dead: Dead City are both playing out of competition, along with Canal+ mafia crime drama The Corsican Line, Mediawan’s Palomar and DEMD-produced European co-production The Count Of Monte-Cristo starring Sam Claflin and Jeremy Irons, and Belgian series The Big Fuck-Up.

Malditos is one of eight series selected for the international competition. Other competition titles include Belgium-Germany road trip comedy How To Kill Your Sister and South Korean mystery thriller S-Line about a girl who can see lines connecting sexual partners.

Scandinavian series further power the competition selection including Iceland’s Reykjavik Fusion about a chef fresh out of prison attempting a comeback, Finland’s psychological drama L/over about a twisted romance, Norwegian family inheritance drama Nepo Baby and Norwegian-Lithuanian A Better Man about an anti-feminist man forced to don women’s clothing when hackers threaten to reveal his secrets.

Norman Reedus will head the main competition jury alongside actors Louise Bourgoin, Lola Duenas and Cesar Domboy, showrunner-producer Soo Hugh and composer Jeff Russo. 

The French premiere of Paramount+ spy thriller The Agency starring Michael Fassbender and Richard Gere, an adaptation of hit French series The Bureau, will open the festival.

Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan will receive the festival’s commitment prize and give a masterclass.

Industry boost

Industry heavyweights headed to Canneseries to participate in the festival’s bolstered industry programme will include The Bureau creator Eric Rochant, Severance and House Of Cards’ showrunner Beau Willimon, and UK producer Jane Tranter of Bad Wolf. All three will host talks.

“They are witnesses of the audiovisual landscape as it was before, but are all still active today,” said Albin Lewi, artistic director of Canneseries.

The Good Wife producer David W. Zucker, Tokyo Vice producer Alex Boden, and French filmmaker Lea Domenach are also due to attend, with organisers expecting between 300-400 professionals at the event. 

The full industry programme will be announced later this month.

Lewi said the event, which comes after Content London and Series Mania, is focusing on quality over quantity. “We are trying to create a convivial, practical, upscale event that is complementary to other audiovisual markets and festivals.

“Producers are all facing a complicated industry and are in a quite depressed state of mind, but in this context, we are here to promote demanding and inventive series with different perspectives to inspire them to do things differently,” he added.

“Non-English-language productions have a role to play as Hollywood struggles, which is a source of anxiety for the entire industry but also a moment of opportunity.”

This is the first year of Canneseries that will run independently of the now-defunct parallel MIP-TV market.

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