Mediawan Rights’ Eco thriller ‘After US’ investigates activism, Extremism

“After us”, an ecological thriller made by Louis Aubert and Matthieu Bernard, follows a group of angry young activists who decide to kidnap the children from business leaders to forced their companies to really bind themselves to environmental protection.

The six-part series, produced by Les Films du Cygne and Storia Television for France Télévisions and Germany’s ZDF and internationally distributed by Mediawan Rights, makes his market debut on the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Le Havre. The series is co -produced by the Doolhoffos of Germany, the follow -up product in Belgium and the European Public Broadcasting Initiative New8 (of which ZDF is a partner).

Creeks with Variety Prior to the Rendezvous, Aubert and Bernard, director Franck Brett and producers Alexandre Charlet and Nicolas de Saint Meleuc discuss making the series, the impact of climate change and the fine line between activism and extremism.

“Our intention was to make a series about climate change, which is very difficult to do, because it is a problem for the future for most people,” Aubert explains. “With this series we wanted to say that in our opinion it is a problem today. We can see that, due to climate change, there are of course burning, heat waves and floods, but there is also tension in society and especially between generations.”

For example, the idea was to “talk about this young generation trying to do something because they feel that the boomers are not doing enough.”

The first episode very much catches the anger of the feeling of young people against complacency towards climate change.

“This anger exists and we wanted to talk about it,” Aubert adds. “It’s the starting point, this anger. But what is important to us is loud and clear to say that it is not the solution and that we should find a different way. We don’t have to argue with each other; we don’t have to fight each other. We have to discuss. We all have to find solutions together, and that is the whole point of the series.”

Although the protagonists see their motivation very much as existential – to save the planet – the series also investigates their individual background stories and what actually drove them to join the group, the Saint Meleuc adds.

The series is about ‘the fear of young people and the lack of a positive perspective and what this can lead to,’ Bernard notes. “This is the first generation whose radicalism does not manifest itself in the order to create a better world, but hoping to retain their own world.”

The story also draws a fine line between passionate activism and terrorism, a balance that formed major challenges, but also a great dramatic potential.

The fading of that rule “is why the show is interesting,” Aubert notes. “Of course you want to like them because they are idealistic. Everyone thinks they are right, but they are doing something wrong.”

There are also parallels with the apparently unscrupulous CEOs of companies. The storyline becomes more complicated as it unfolds and in the end everyone is confronted with the same problem, Aubert adds.

“There is no bad buy or good guy in the story,” Brett emphasizes, and notes that viewers will be challenged by the fact that protagonists do a very bad thing in kidnapping young people, even possibly committing terrorism while staying very human, even apparently touching in their behavior. “This is exactly what we love in the show.”

That mystery was also emphasized by the makers to initially pitch the project, Charlet recalls. ‘We liked to say that [it] Question marks our reason, our moral and our ethics. “

Aubert adds: “It was very interesting to write a series about people who do something wrong for the right thing. I think it was the same for the actors, and I think that we bound together.”

“And we also like to say that it is not a true story … yet,” says Charlet.

The cross-border scope of the series, including the role of international oil, chemical and financial companies in the climate crisis, is likely to attract strong global importance. ZDF was indeed the first broadcaster to board the project. In addition to Frans Talent, including Léo Legrand, Marie Colomb, Gaël Langouet, Matéo Paiter and Natacha Lindinder, the cast contains German, Spanish and British actors in important roles, including Benno Fürmann, Catalina del Rosario, Jonathan Nyati, Will Attenborough), Alvaaa, Alvaaa, Alvaaaa, Alvaaaaa. Pollanne.

‘From a creative point of view it was clear in the beginning when we think about the show that it could not only be French, that we had to talk all over Europe, because the problem of climate change has no limit, “Aubert notes.” And now it will be universal. “

“After US” was included in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in France, including locations in and around Annecy, the Grésivaudan Valley in Isère, Haute-Savoie and Lyon.