Netflix invests $221m in French originals for 2022 slate

Netflix has unveiled its French originals slate for 2022, investing more than 200m euros ($221m) in almost 50 new titles this year.

The streamer has 25 new French titles ready for launch this year and 20 more in production. Among the show highlights revealed during a presentation in Paris today are the Romain Gavras-directed Athena, an immersive and modern tragedy, starring Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane and Anthony Bajon, and co-written by Ladj Ly and Elias Belkeddar.

Also being filmed this year is En Place, a comedy series co-created by Jean-Pascal Zadi and François Uzan, and Le Roi des Ombres, directed by Marc Fouchard, based on an original idea by Kaaris and which, through a gallery of characters, draws inspiration from an ancestral African legend and transposes it onto today’s France.

Standing Up, meanwhile, is a new series from Call My Agent! Creator Fanny Herrero, which goes behind the fictional scenes of the stand-up world.

Rhythm + Flow France, is a rap competition celebrating the hip-hop movement by going in search of its future new faces between Paris, Marseille and Brussels, with a jury consisting of Niska, Shay and SCH.

Other French originals include Notre Dame, a drama series from Hervé Hadmar, set on the night of the cathedral fire in 2019; the documentary series Johnny Hallyday: Beyond Rock which lets the artist tell his own story, through decades of unpublished archives; and action film Lost Bullet 2, the second part of Guillaume Pierret’s trilogy.

Damien Couvreur, Netflix’z VP series France commented: “We are proud of bringing new stories to life and reflecting the diversity of French creation in all the 25 productions, in all their variety, being released this year on Netflix”