An OCS original, produced by Tetra Media and Orange Studio, will be presented at Series Mania.
Federation and Orange Studio have joined forces for a new international distribution agreement for Soldiers (original title: Sentinelles), a 7 x 52′ OCS original series produced by Tetra Media and Orange Studio.
The series is part of the International Competition at Series Mania, where it will be presented on Monday, March 21st at 8:30 PM at Le Nouveau Siècle movie theater in Lille alongside the series’ talents, and will screen the following day at the same cinema at 2:00 PM.
Co-created by Frédéric Krivine (Un Village français, Une belle Histoire) and Thibaut Valetoux (Totems, Paris Police 1900) from the latter’s original idea and directed by Jean Philippe Amar (Un Village français, Spiral), Soldiers delves deeper into a hot topic with both a sense of urgency and understanding. The series focuses on the ‘Operation Barkhane’ mission in Mali, an anti-insurgent operation that has recently been front and center in international news after France announced its withdrawal from the region after a nine-year battle in mid-February 2022. Soldiers not only depicts this deeply relevant current event, but goes further to explore the universal and moral dilemmas soldiers face when sent far away from their home countries, whatever their rank.
Soldiers is produced by Tetra Media’s Antoine Szymalka in co-production with Orange Studio, with the participation of OCS (Orange Cinema Series, the pay-TV group owned by French telecom group Orange) and the CNC, and with the support of Marocco, Prodicrep and Angoa for film production.
It brings together an exceptional cast led by Pauline Parigot, Louis Peres, Birane Ba from the Comédie Française, Yannick Choirat, Samy Seghir, Vanessa Fonte, Raphaëlle Rousseau, Jonathan Turnbull, Antoine Pelletier, Warren Ferri, François Loriquet, Diouc Koma, and Issaka Sawadogo.
The series will air starting April 5th on OCS.
Synopsis
In the Mopti region of Mali, Lieutenant Anais Collet’s platoon, deployed as part of Operation Barkhane, is dedicated to tracking down terrorists. An ambush with dramatic consequences rekindles tensions between the military and the Malian people, who are less and less accepting of the French presence on their land. In a country where armed terrorist groups are multiplying, the French army must form a new and complex division whose mission is to avoid the declaration of a caliphate in the Sahel.
Who are these young soldiers serving under the French flag who are risking their lives to protect others? These committed combatants are women and men who love each other, but tear each other apart. They are dedicated to their mission, but sometimes question it. Some prove to be heroes, others cowards and many, a bit of both.
The complexity of the situation in the Sahel and the consequences of France’s involvement in the conflict are expressed through the different perspectives of several characters including French soldiers and Malians. Soldiers focuses in particular on three such characters, namely 28 year-old Anais Collet and 24 year-olds Martial Mendy and Julien Ravalet whose lives are forever changed by their mission. The breathtaking series not only blends action and combat, but offers a fictional approach to this contemporary conflict that questions what France represents in the world today. From the country’s young soldiers pledging their allegiance to the blue, white and red flag to an army engaged in a complex war, the series reflects an era tormented by the issue of Islamic terrorism.
