Banner Canal Plus Original Infiniti Bows at Canneseries, Blending Sci-Fi, Kazakh Noir an

Publish date: 2024-06-18

Bowing in Canneseries official selection, six-episode miniseries “Infiniti” isn’t just for sci-fi aficionados, Empreinte Digitale producer Eric Laroche told Variety.

Co-produced between France and Belgium, the latest Canal Plus offering – created by Stéphane Pannetier and Julien Vanlerenberghe – interweaves multiple storylines, moving from the International Space Station (ISS) that suddenly goes silent to an investigation in Kazakhstan, where a beheaded, wax-covered body is found by a local cop.

Discouraged by his superiors, Isaak (Daniyar Alshinov) decides to solve the mystery, while French astronaut Anna Zarathi (Céline Sallette) pursues her dream of space travel.

“Having more than one genre, especially in a TV series, is very interesting. But one of them still needs to form the skeleton of the show. In our case, it’s the murder mystery,” says Laroche.

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“I am not a big traveler, but I live for cinema and for series. The first time I went to New York, I went: ‘Oh my God, I am in a movie.’ When I went to Japan, I kept saying ‘I’m in a Miyazaki film, in a Koreeda film.’ When I went to Kazakhstan, I said: ‘I don’t know where I am.’ I have never been on a journey like that.”

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While Paris-based Empreinte Digitale continues to blend genres with Disney Plus fantasy “Parallels” and upcoming Netflix show “The 7 Lives of Lea,” which will include time travel and body swapping, it has already nabbed the Critics Jury Award at MipDrama in 2017 for sci-fi series “Missions.”

“There is a connection, especially in terms of production. We already know how to create something with many visual effects. We learnt it with ‘Missions’ and we confirmed it with ‘Infiniti’,” says Laroche. But the ambitious scope of the series initially scared off potential broadcasters.

“Many of them said it wasn’t the kind of story they normally make. Others went: ‘It’s great, but it’s never going to happen.’ We asked the writers to complete the first episode, thinking that if no one wants the series in France, maybe we can look for another partner abroad. And then come back, saying: ‘See? The Brits think it’s possible after all’.”

With Canal Plus on board, the producers decided to shoot mostly in English despite their international cast, featuring the likes of “The Whistlers” star Vlad Ivanov or Ukrainian-born Anatolii Panchenko. There were six languages spoken on set, which was both “frightening and exciting,” adds Laroche.

“Infiniti” star Céline Sallette appreciated the “poetic, mythical and metaphorical” take of the writers, as well as the complexity of the characters, each dealing with their respective traumas.

“The beautiful thing about Anna is that you take this dream of space and look at it from an intimate point of view. This dream is not coming true for her – she has had this seizure. It was a failure, but she will regain herself once again, step by step. It was really beautiful to explore,” she says.

Laroche adds: “This is the number one rule with series – you can create the most amazing set up, send the audience somewhere they have never been, but if the characters aren’t interesting, they won’t come back. I used to say that we all loved ‘Six Feet Under,’ but not because of the funeral home. It was because of that family.”

While for the moment there are no plans for the second season, “everything is possible,” says Laroche.

“Since the beginning, we said: ‘This is a miniseries.’ When the writers pitched us the story, they told us how it would end. That’s the reason why it’s so well-written – you need to know where you are going.”

“Infiniti” was shot in France, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and current events proved difficult for the entire team.

“The viewers won’t know that we shot there – it’s not a part of the story. Which is why we decided it’s our duty to talk about Ukraine during the interviews,” says Laroche. On Monday, when the series will be released on Canal Plus, there will be a special introduction before the first episode.

“We spent two and a half months in Ukraine: when you work on something so difficult, a connection is formed. When the war started, we contacted everyone and tried to help them out. We sent money, first necessity items. This is very important to us.”

“We see Ukrainians filling sandbags on the beach, building defenses, but also playing drums, filling that place with loud music, beer and strength. They are escaping mental terror,” adds Sallette, wearing the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

“Now, when I text Ilya, who led our amazing stunt crew, he says: ‘We are fine. We are working towards our victory.’ They are the real heroes today, because they are not allowing themselves to be intimidated by fear. Or by this man.”

“Heroism is not about being successful in everything you do or being strong all the time. It has something to do with failure – the kind of failure you need to overcome. You get through it and emerge victorious. You conquer your monsters,” she says.

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