Occitan, a dead language? In The series (Series, in French), Thomas is convinced of the opposite. This young man, a bit whimsical, who is passionate about the language of Frédéric Mistral, sets out to create the first TV series in Occitan. He then tries to convince Mathieu, a director of funeral films, to follow him in this crazy bet.
This series of five 40-minute episodes, both hilarious and militant, as it fights so that Occitan does not fall into oblivion, will soon be broadcast on the France.tv platform and on France 3, in Occitania. We will follow the improbable journey, in French and Occitan, of this Occitan-speaking duo, aboard a customized Citroën BX, to achieve their ends. By tinkering with sketches, or by going out of their way to get help.
A “cultural comedy”
It is “in the idea that it is better to laugh than to cry”, that the screenwriters of this mini-series, Amic Bedel and Julien Campredon, opted for a “cultural comedy”, to deal with the subject which tickled them. “Our characters strive to enhance a culture, meet others, such as Catalan culture, while coming up against the realities of the administrative functioning of the cultural milieu”, explains Julien Campredon.
For Amic Bedel, who is also the director of The series, it was a “need” to “show this culture that has become invisible. The need to value fragile things”. But not by being boring. On the contrary. “The tone is direct, the method is crazy, there is a lot of self-mockery about the clumsiness of the Occitan movement or militant movements in general, he confides. It’s about approaching a large audience, without giving up the fundamental questions of mixing cultures, of living together, which fascinate me. »
“The target audience is not necessarily an audience that speaks Occitan”
On France 3, in Occitania, it will of course not be the first program that speaks Occitan, or about Occitan. Every Sunday morning, at 10.30 a.m., the channel broadcasts Viure al paisin Occitan, but also AquiSem, in Catalan. But a series is the first time. “Our interest, above all, is indeed to co-produce, and therefore to broadcast, a series, explains Fabrice Valéry, the delegate of the antenna and the contents of France 3 Occitanie. Occitan is a subject, not a means. Our primary objective was not to co-produce a series in Occitan, but a series that speaks of Occitan. »
Moreover, obviously, thanks to the subtitles, without being polyglot, we will be able to follow perfectly The series, which talks in French, Occitan, and even in Catalan, English or Serbo-Croatian. Because “the target audience is not necessarily an audience that speaks Occitan”, specifies Fabrice Valéry. Before a broadcast date was set by the third channel, the team of The series hopes to seduce festivals, which would eventually be interested in screening the series in preview.