Un prophète (Ep. 1-8)

A visceral, raw and high-stakes portrayal of life in a brutal French prison, where Malik, a young African immigrant, must try to survive after being incarcerated for drug smuggling. Alone and vulnerable, he meets Massoud, a powerful and shady businessman who offers him protection in exchange for his obedience. But Malik soon realises he is just a pawn in Massoud’s game, and that the only way to survive is to take power for himself.

This seven-hour series is the result of a very personal creative process and is quite different from any other experience I have had in the world of TV series. I incorporated some of the practices I developed while writing and directing my last film: shooting in chronological order, rewriting during production, operating the camera myself, seeking physical proximity with the actors, and allowing them emotional freedom on set. All of this was done in an attempt to enhance consistency in the characters. I believe the show provides a unique yet highly cinematic interpretation of Jacques Audiard’s masterpiece, which has been a significant reference point for me since my early days at film school. We achieved this by plunging the characters into the specific universe of the town of Marseille and exploring contemporary conflicts involving discrimination based on wealth, race, religion and sexuality.
I wanted to take the mystical and sophisticated tone even further, moving away from genre cliché to find an original balance between arthouse filmmaking and serial storytelling — melding classical rigueur, documentary and noir.

PRODUCTION 1:
CPB Films - Marco Cherqui
14 Rue Crespin du Gast
75011 Paris, France
Tel: +33 0676727552
E-mail: marco.cherqui@cpbfilms.com

PRODUCTION 2:
MMS - Sebastien Janin
14B Rue Meynadier
75019 Paris, France
Tel: +33 0679915621
E-mail: seb@media-musketeers.com

WORLD SALES:
STUDIOCANAL - Chloé Marquet
50 Rue Camille Desmoulins
92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
Tel: +33 0171356000 / +33 0642937882
E-mail: chloe.marquet@studiocanal.com

ITALIAN DISTRIBUTION:
Indigo Films - Nicola Giuliano
Via Torino, 135
00184 Roma, Italia
Tel: +39 0677250255 / +39 3357838593
E-mail: nicola@indigofilm.it

PRESS OFFICE:
Anne Takahashi
Tel: +1 917 825 4340
E-mail: anne@takapr.com