Three International Emmy Awards for French productions
- After Braquo in 2012 and The Returned in 2013, Spiral has been crowned as Best Drama Series
French TV fiction has reasserted its global rise to fame on the list of winners at the 2015 International Emmy Awards, particularly in the "best drama series" category, which saw the triumph of the fifth season of Spiral. This is the third time in four years that a French production has won the trophy, following Braquo in 2012 and The Returned in 2013. Interestingly, all three series were funded by Canal+. Created by Alexandra Clert and Guy-Patrick de Sainderichin, and produced by Son et Lumière, Spiral portrays the misfortunes of police officers, lawyers and magistrates working in the murky world of criminals in Paris.
This win falls within a highly dynamic overall trend for the production of TV series in France, with a plethora of film companies having entered the sector and expanded their TV divisions very rapidly (Gaumont, EuropaCorp, Haut et Court, Agat Films, Fidélité and Mandarin, for instance, and most recently Wild Bunch and UGC). In addition, a number of recently aired productions are currently making a big splash (Dix pour cent, Versailles, Disparue, The Tunnel, Le Bureau des Légendes [+see also:
interview: Frédéric Lavigne
series profile], Au Service de la France and The Last Panthers), many are set to hit screens soon (Baron noir by Ziad Doueri and Section zéro by Olivier Marchal for Canal+, Cannabis by Lucie Borleteau and Trepalium for Arte, Marseille for Netflix, and so on), there are myriad projects in the pipeline (Haute couture, Destination Mars, Spy City, an adaptation of These Final Hours, Viva la Madness, Barbarella, which Nicolas Winding Refn is involved in, 1001 by Lars Lundstrom and so on) and international co-productions are also on the cards (such as with Haut et Court, for The Young Pope by Italy’s Paolo Sorrentino).
Canal+ also snagged an award at this edition of the International Emmy Awards, with White Soldier by Erick Zonca (produced by Breakout Films), which was singled out in the "best TV movie or miniseries" category.
The 2015 International Emmy Awards also bestowed an award upon the documentary Illustre & Inconnu: comment Jacques Jaujard a sauvé le Louvre by Jean-Pierre Devillers and Pierre Pochart (produced by Ladybirds Films, aired by France 3).
(Translated from French)
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