BNP Paribas sponsors the first international series festival at Cannes

The series phenomenon

Who in 2018 hasn’t yet watched a series? French, English, Spanish, American... the choice is so wide, that there’s something for every taste.

Series, like films, bring people together. They generate emotion and are special in that they create a link with audiences. Let’s admit it, how many of us have wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving in Monica and Rachel’s apartment (Friends) or be in Seattle Grace with Derek Sheperd (Grey’s Anatomy). 

Series are part of our lives as viewers: they’ve ousted films from the early evening time slot on TV, and we can even watch them on our smartphones or tablets. 

It is very naturally that BNP Paribas, a great partner of the cinema, is investing in the series, a genre in its own right.

BNP Paribas is also one of the biggest funders of series. Versailles, Le Bureau des Légendes, Narcos, En famille, Plus belle la vie, Demain nous appartient… all of these series have been financed directly or indirectly by the bank.

Canneseries: The first international series festival in Cannes 

Open to the public and organized by an independent association presided by Fleur Pellerin, Canneseries will celebrate excellence. Striving to create a stage on which the foremost creators in the world of tv series come together, where tomorrow’s talents are showcased and a prestigious international competition for a wide range of genres and for series of all shapes and forms is presented.

During Canneseries, the city of Cannes will embrace the world of series through dialogue and discovery, with screenings of classic series throughout the city, master classes, encounters and Q&A’s, ad hoc digital content and much more…

Open to all, the festival brings us 10 international series in the official competition, as well as first screenings entirely for free.

Discover the program

Here is a sneak preview of the programme: Season 3 of the series “Versailles” by Simon Mirren and David Wolstencroft will open the festival on 4 April. “La vérité sur l'affaire Harry Québert”, adapted from Joël Dicker’s best-selling novel, produced by Jean-Jacques Annaud, with Patrick Dempsey, will kick off the official competition on 7 April. Harlan Coben’s new detective series “Safe” will be screened for its world première at the closing ceremony.

The festival’s closing ceremony will be broadcast in open time on Canal+ on 11 April at 7:15 pm, with Kyan Khojandi. 

Besides the official competition and screenings, Canneseries offers 2 major programmes:

• Canneseries Institute : writers in residence and screenwriter workshops to promote new talents
  
• In Development : a co-production forum to support and realise production projects
  

Partnership

By sponsoring the first Canneseries, BNP Paribas wants to unite its audiences around series. Canneseries Institute and In Development, two programmes dedicated to the new generation, also appealed to the Group in its desire to support all forms of writing for cinema and series.

Canneseries will allow the Group to set up several activations. 

• Séance Radio: the official festival radio station. Since January, we’ve been broadcasting a weekly programme on series: Next Episode. Led by Charline Roux and her commentators, the programme looks at series news and talks about topics related to the genre.
  
• Rebroadcast of the Masterclass on Facebook live We Love Cinema : MC Hall – Tuesday 10th from 3 to 4 pm / Harlan Coben – Tuesday 10th from 10 to 11 am / JJ Annaud – Friday 6th from 5 to 6 pm