Federation takes AIDS drama to market

Paris-based Federation Entertainment is taking a drama about the emergence of the AIDS disease in the 1980s to the international market.

Marseille prodco Federation and compatriot Mayane Films are coproducing the series, AIDS, which will follow the race to find the cause of the syndrome.

A “major US partner” is set to provide finance for the series, according to Federation, which has international distribution rights.

Mayane’s Georges Benayoun (Tous les Garçons et les Filles) developed the property along with Franck Nouchi,a doctor and journalist for French newspaper Le Monde.

According to the partners, the show will be set to the backdrop of a true-life conflict between medical institutes in France and US that had initially worked together to combat AIDS.

Furthermore, AIDS will dramatise “the scientific and human adventure behind one of the most important medical breakthroughs in the last century, a thriller involving sex, money, morals, and survival, always overshadowed by the specter of death”.

Federation, which Pascal Breton launched in 2013, has become one of France’s most prominent drama houses through series such as Marseille, The Collection and The Bureau, while veteran producer Benayoun and former doc maker Jeremy Sahel lead Mayane, which has been working with Belgium’s NEXUS on TV series and films with international appeal.