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After tackling gender power dynamics in the post #MeToo era, Prime Video’s raunchy comedy series “Escort Boys” is returning for a second season that’s several shades darker and is world premiering today at Canneseries.

Adapted from the Israeli show “Johnny and the Knights of Galilee” (“Milk and Honey”) and directed by Ruben Alves, the half-hour comedy series portrays four young men who become escorts to make ends meet and save their family business in a picturesque town in Southern France.

Boldly addressing timely themes such as romantic love, female sexuality and toxic masculinity, Season 1 was a hit, even luring Wild Bunch TV which acquired international sales (to seasons 1 and 2), and France’s leading commercial channel TF1 which bought second-window rights.

Myriam Gharbi-de Vasselot at Mediawan-owned Oberkampf Productions ‘(“Les Papillons Noirs”) who produced the series with Charlotte Toledano-Detaille at Story Nation Productions (also owned by Mediawan) and Rtl Tvi,...

The Taliban’s sweep to power in Afghanistan in 2021 serves as the backdrop to “Kabul,” one of France’s most ambitious international thriller dramas to date.

The six-part geopolitical show, which is world premiering today at Series Mania in Lille, emerged from the first-hand experience of producer Fabienne Servan-Schreiber who played a direct role in the chaotic evacuation efforts.

While vacationing in Greece with her son (and fellow producer) Matthias Weber, Servan-Schreiber heard of the situation in Kabul and got fully involved in efforts to rescue multiple families of Afghan artists and doctors.

Speaking to Variety along with Weber on the eve of “Kabul”‘s presentation at Series Mania, Servan-Schreiber says she was initially contacted by Jean-Michel Frodon, a film historian and journalist, who was looking for help to raise funds to buy plane tickets for a group of Afghan artists.

“I sent the email to everyone in my address...

French action cinema tells stories through movement, mixing personal struggles with engine sounds and excitement. GTMax, directed by Olivier Schneider, continues this style with its own character, trading Hollywood’s Fast & Furious cars for quick scooters racing through twisted Paris streets. Schneider, who coordinated stunts for Fast & Furious 6 and No Time to Die, applies his skills to make a film mixing speed with feeling.

GTMax tells a story about staying strong and family ties during money troubles and hard choices. The story shows Soélie, who used to race motocross before stopping after an accident and loss. Her family’s motocross shop starts failing, pulling her toward risky heists where her riding skills help and endanger her.

Netflix added GTMax to their French action movies, which mix action scenes with cultural meaning and deep feelings. The film stands out by focusing on scooter chases and showing how family...

“GTMax” (2024) is a new French action thriller film specifically designed to give you an adrenaline rush. However, underneath its exciting motorcycle racing scenes lies an emotional story that takes up most of its duration. Now streaming on Netflix, it revolves around Soelie, who customizes racing motorcycles for her family business. Her family has always been passionate about this sport. However, due to financial issues, they have to make sacrifices for their future. The film follows Soelie’s attempts to avert the crisis. When the police look into a criminal case, she finds herself in trouble. If you’re wondering what exactly happened between Soelie, Theo, and Elyas, see the movie’s ending explained here.

Spoilers Ahead

GTMax (2024) ‘Netflix’ Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:

Directed by Olivier Schneider, “GTMax” is a French-language action thriller that follows a family trying to save their business amid mounting financial difficulties. It leads Soelie, the daughter,...

Mediawan Rights has boarded “Kabul,” a highly anticipated thriller series produced by France’s 24 25 Films and Cinétévé.

Shervin Alenabi (“Tehran”) and “Euphoria’s” Eric Dane (in a small role) have joined the international cast of the show, which already comprises Jonathan Zaccaï (“Le bureau des legendes”), Thibault Evrard (“The Night of the 12th”), Vassilis Kukalawi (“Kandahar”), Jeanne Goursaud (“Pax Massilia”), Gianmarco Saurino (“L’estate piu Calda”) and Valentina Cervi (“Medici: Masters of Florence”).

The series, set against the backdrop of U.S. troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan and Taliban’s sweep to power, just started filming on April 1. Mediawan Rights will introduce the gripping series project to international buyers at upcoming markets, and is handling worldwide distribution with the participation of Entourage.

“Kabul” explores the chaotic evacuation of various characters, from diplomats to soldiers to civilians, who desperately seek refuge and solidarity in a country in crisis, with the arrival of the Taliban in Kabul.

Besting the likes of Albert Serra’s Pacifiction and Louis Garrel’s The Innocent to win Best Film at this year’s César Awards––not to mention picking up six other awards––Dominik Moll’s mystery thriller The Night of the 12th is now arriving at U.S. shores to kick off the summer. Based on a true crime book by Pauline Guéna, the film was picked up by Film Movement for a May 19 theatrical release, and we’re pleased to exclusively debut the first trailer.

“In nearly every police precinct, detectives are inevitably confronted with a case that goes unsolved. The more heinous the crime, the more it haunts those whose duty it is solve it,” the synopsis reads. “Such is the dilemma for Yohan Vivès—a young, recently promoted police Captain—when he begins investigating the gruesome murder of a young women named Clara in the town of Grenoble.

Mediawan’s newly launched banner StoryNation Productions label is kicking off with a pair of internationally driven shows based on hit IP’s, “Escort Boys” and “Hot Ones.”

The company was created last year by two well-established producers, Charlotte Toledano Detaille and Jean-Paul Géronimi who both previously worked at Lagardere Studios which is now part of Mediawan.

Ordered by Amazon Prime Video, “Escort Boys” marks the TV debut of Ruben Alves, the filmmaker of the “Gilded Cage” and “Miss.” StoryNation is producing the series with Myriam Gharbi de Vasselot at Oberkampf Productions, another Mediawan group label.

“Escort Boys” is loosely based on the Israeli series “Johnny and the Knights of the Galilee,” produced by Yes Studios, and by created by Dani Rosenberg and Tom Shoval.

The anticipated six-part French adaptation shot in the South of France with a cast of up-and-comers and fresh faces including Guillaume Labbé, Thibaut Evrard, Simon Ehrlacher,...

MK2 Films has locked major territory deals on Leonor Serraille’s drama “Mother and Son” which world premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and garnered strong reviews.

“Mother and Son” charts the lives of a young African woman, Rose, and two of her four children, Jean and Ernest, who come to France from the Ivory Coast in the 1980s with high ideals. Juggling her parenting responsibilities and low-paying jobs, Rose still aspires to find true love and to fulfill her own desires, but she ultimately struggles to reach a balance between her roles as a mother and a woman. Jean and Ernest, meanwhile, will take different paths to fitting into French society while coping with their identity conflicts and their mother’s life choices.

MK2 Films has sold the movie to the U.K. (Picture House), Spain (Vertigo), Italy (Teodora), Sweden (Triart), Benelux (Cherry Pickers), Greece (One From the Heart...

Nobody who has lived their entire life in one country can fully understand the strange, intimate disruption of emigrating as a family. For a time, parents and children are united and equal in disorientation, the adults’ authority on hold as all parties mutually wander and fumble their way through new cultures, geographies and social circles — a shared rite of passage, cutting through separating decades. Eventually, everyone finds their feet, traditional roles are reasserted, and stable family life resumes — except when it doesn’t, as depicted in Léonor Serraille’s delicate but wrenching second feature “Mother and Son.” An unsentimental but stoically anguished portrait of a tough single mother and two vulnerable sons settling (or not) in France from the Ivory Coast, it shows how the immigrant experience can equally tighten the knot between parent and child, or permanently unravel it.

An unassumingly ambitious drama, plainly but poetically told in three...