Four Newen Connect titles are to receive special screenings at this year’s La Rochelle Festival, which runs from September 10-15. Time-travelling thriller “Flashback” and crime thriller “No Time for Goodbye,” based on the Linwood Barclay bestseller, have both been selected for competition at this year’s Festival de la Fiction, while “Cat’s Eyes” – the upcoming TF1 blockbuster based on Tsukasa Hojo's cult manga series, and police procedural “Carpe Diem” will receive a special screenings.
Rodolphe Buet, Chief Executive Officer, Newen Connect, said: “Newen Connect is delighted that four of the key titles in its current catalog have been chosen by the Festival de la Fiction. They perfectly illustrate what Newen Connect is looking for in drama: high-quality event television with stories that international audiences are looking for and which bring together the very best of talent in front and behind the camera.”
A co-production between Itinéraire Productions and UCG Fiction, “Flashback” stars Constance Gay as Elsa Letellier, a member of Lyon’s Scientific Police, who has chosen her career path as a tribute to her father, Josselin, who was mysteriously murdered 30 years ago. As the statute of limitations runs out on the case, Elsa finds herself transported back to 1994, a few months before her father’s murder. She takes advantage of this “trip” to get closer to him and become his partner in preventing his death, without ever revealing her true identity. The only problem is that everything seems set to get in her way! The 6 x 52’ TF1 thriller was written by Clélia Constantine, Charlotte Robb, Louise Bezombes, Vinciane Mokry et Julie Anna Grignon and directed by Vincent Jamain, Stephen Cafiero. The producers are Anthony Lancret, Pierre Laugier and Lola Manai for Itinéraire Productions.
Based on Linwood Barclay’s first best-seller, “No Time for Goodbye” is a 4 x 52’ crime thriller that starts on September 10, 2001. Having argued with her parents the night before, 16-year old Sofia wakes up to discover an empty house, with no sign of her parents or younger brother. Twenty years later, she is still haunted by unanswered questions… until a letter arrives which makes no sense yet chills her to the core and sets her on a quest for the truth. Directed by Myriam Vinocour, the France 2 mini-series stars Barbara Probst as Sofia, Pascal Elbe (“Baron Noir”) and Hugo Becker (“Gossip Girl,” “Call My Agent”).
Meanwhile, a special screening will take place for “Carpe Diem,” a 6 x 52’ police procedural directed by Pierre Isoard, starring Samuel Le Bihan as Tom Villeneuve, a man wrongly accused of murdering his wife. While serving his prison sentence, Tom studies the law and qualifies as a lawyer, opening his own practice upon his release. He defends those he believes have been unjustly accused of a crime and sets about trying to uncover the real murderer of his wife, living under the golden rule of seizing the day. Carpe Diem is produced by Escazal Films for France’s TF1.
Created by Michel Catz, who has also written the series alongside Justine Kim-Gautier, Antonin Martin-Hilbert, Anne-Charlotte Kassab, Coline Dussaud and Audrey Gagneux, and based on the work of Tsukasa Hojo, TF1’s “Cat’s Eyes” will also receive a special screening. The series follows three sisters - Alexia, Tam, and Sylia – on the prowl for the most beautiful and secured artworks in Paris. After years apart, the trio get back together to steal a work of art, on display in a high-class exhibition at the Eiffel Tower. The siblings hope that the artwork, which belongs to their father, will help them solve the mystery of his disappearance years earlier, when a fire broke out in his art gallery. Produced by Benjamin Dupont Jubien and Mehdi Sabbar at Big Band Story, and Directed by Alexandre Laurent (“Women at War”), the fun series stars Camille Lou (“Women at War”), Contance Labbé (“Balthazar”), and Claire Romain (“Where It All Begins”).