The series “Tropiques Criminels” is at the heart of a controversy in Martinique. – © Sylvie Castioni – Best Image
In Martinique, the detective series Criminal Tropics, broadcast on the public service, has been at the heart of a controversy since the local elected officials voted against a subsidy of 500,000 euros for the shooting of season 3.
At the CTM (Collectivité Territoriale de Martinique) 26 elected officials voted against, 21 for and two abstained on Wednesday. For the first time since she moved to Martinique three years ago, the series Criminal Tropics, which has an average of four million viewers on France 2, was refused its request for a subsidy to the Territorial Collectivity of Martinique.
A series already funded by the state, points out a deputy
A decision welcomed by the Martinican deputy Jean-Philippe Nilor who sits in the Assembly of Martinique and who votes against this subsidy since the first season. “After having already paid 1.1 million euros over two years, we are ready to offer another 500,000 euros to an external co-production while since the start of the health crisis, Martinican artists, all disciplines combined, have not benefited as aid only 350,000 euros from the community? He asks himself.
For him, the title of the series Tropics Criminals which features a police officer investigating assassinations, “is not the external image that we want to give to a Martinique that wants to be attractive and attractive,” he adds. Finally, the elected ensures not to understand “in what capacity we are asked to come again finance with tax money from Martinique, this series, insofar as the public service mission of France Television is already funded by the State ”.
Arguments that circulated on social networks the day before the vote in a letter signed by a “collective of artists, actors, actors and technicians of culture” wishing to remain anonymous “for fear of reprisals”. A letter which also ensures that on the set “qualified people were considered as carriers of water”.
“It’s really a shame for the future of audiovisual in Martinique”
On the set of the series, the teams are stunned by the controversy. About twenty Martiniquais, or 50% of the technical workforce, work on this production. Most have been there from the start, some have also evolved in their positions like Mickaëlle Chenard: dresser three years ago, costume designer now. “I’m disgusted, we finally have the chance to have a lasting series that even allows novices to be trained. It is a real shame for the future of the audiovisual industry in Martinique and for the shops there are all around, ”she explains.
Beyond the technicians of the series who responded by means of a press release to defend the production of Criminal Tropics, the event activities union (SAE) representing the professionals who revolve around the shooting as well as the chef Jean-Charles Bredas and his wife, who provide the meals, have also written and listed all the companies that benefit from the four months of filming every year.
“More than two million euros” in economic benefits
At the CTM, the majority who made the request for a subsidy are disappointed. For Marie-Hélène Leotin, the executive advisor in charge of culture and heritage, this is a political maneuver in the run-up to the territorial election. She believes that the project is beneficial for Martinique: “When we put 500,000 euros, we collect, as immediate economic benefit, more than two million euros”, she explained to elected officials gathered in plenary.
The president of the Martinican Tourism Committee, Karine Mousseau, also defends a series that allows significant visibility in Martinique at a lower cost: “We spent one million euros in December to play a 25-second clip on TVs. national, there we put 500,000 euros and there are people who for 52 minutes on France 2 are in Martinique ”.
The production did not wish to comment on the controversy or the decision of elected officials. The main actress of the series, Sonia Rolland, for her part, posted a group photo with all the technicians on her Instagram account with the comment in Creole “ansanm nou ka goumen”, for “together we fight”.