“We,” an ecological thriller created by Louis Obert and Matieu Bernard, follows a group of angry young activists who have decided to lure children of corporate leaders to force businesses to truly commit to environmental protection.
The six-part series produced by Les Films du Cygne and Storia Television for French Television and Germany’s ZDF and distributed internationally by Media One’s rights, makes its market debut at Le Havre’s Unifrance Rendez-Bous. The series is co-produced by Belgian German maze photography, the sequel Prod, and European public broadcasting initiative New8, in which ZDF is a partner.
Prior to Rendezvous, Obert and Bernard, director Frank Brett and producers Alexandre Charle and Nicolas de Saint-Meruc, we discuss the series’ creation, the impact of climate change, and the tiny lines between activity and extremism.
“Our intention was to make a series on climate change. This is very difficult because for most people, it’s a matter of the future,” explains Obert. “We wanted to say in this series, in our opinion, it’s a problem today. We see that there are, of course, fires, heat waves, floods, but there are tensions between society and especially generations.”
Therefore, this idea was born to “talk about something about this younger generation, as they have the feeling that Boomers are not doing enough.”
The first episode captures the anger felt by young people who are complacent towards climate change.
“This rage exists and we wanted to talk about it,” Obert adds. “It’s the starting point, this rage. But what’s important for us is to make it loud and clear that it’s not a solution and we need to find another way. We don’t have to argue with each other. We don’t have to fight each other. We need to argue with each other. We need to argue with them.
Certainly, the protagonist considers his motives existentially – Save the Planet – the series also explores individual backstories and what actually drives him to join the group, De Saint Meleuc adds.
The series deals with “the fear of young people and the lack of a positive perspective and what this leads to.” “This is the first generation where radicalism is revealed not because they want to bring about a better world, but because they want to maintain their own world.”
The story also derives a nuance between passionate behaviorism and terrorism. This is a balance that not only presents great challenges, but also brings great dramatic possibilities.
The blurry line “is why the show is so funny,” Obert points out. “Of course, you want to like them because they’re idealistic. Everyone thinks you’re right, but they’re doing something wrong.”
There are also similarities with CEOs of seemingly uncrou. The storyline becomes more complicated as it unfolds, and in the end, everyone faces the same problem, Obert adds.
“There are no bad purchases or good people in the story,” Brett emphasizes, pointing out that viewers will challenge the fact that the main character lures young people and even commits terrorism, appearing to be touching on his actions while committing very humanity. “This is exactly what we love on the show.”
The conundrum was highlighted by the creators who first pitched the project, Charlet recalls. “We liked to say (it) questioned why we were, our morale, our ethics.”
Overt adds: “It was very interesting to write a series about people doing something wrong for the right reasons, and I think it was the same for the actors.
“And we want to say that it’s not a true story though…” Charett says.
The series’ transnational scope, including the role of international petroleum, chemical and financial companies in the climate crisis, could attract strong global attention. In fact, ZDF was the first broadcaster to ride the project. In addition to French talent, including Leo Legrand, Marie Columbu, Gael Langetto, Mateo Paitel and Natacha Lindinger, the cast features actors such as Benno Furman, Benno Rosario, Jonathan Naiati, Will Atenbal (“Dunka”, “Dunka”, “Dunka”), “Dunka”, “Dunka”, “Dunka” and “Dunka” actors, including German, Spanish and British actors in key roles.
“From a creative perspective, when we began to look back on the show, it was first clear that it wasn’t just French, that there’s no frontier on climate change issues, so we had to talk about everything in Europe,” Obert points out. “And now it’s become universal.”
“After Us” was filmed in the scenic Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. This includes locations in Annecy, Gré sivaudan Valley, Haute-Savoie and Lyon in Isère.
