‘Infiniti’, a series that cleverly combines science fiction and police drama

Unifrance: How was the project born?

Eric LarocheEric Laroche : We already knew Thierry Poiraud. Raphaël Rocher produced two of his films, Don’t Grow Up (Alone) (2015) and Goal of the Dead – The Second Half (2013). In 2017, Thierry introduced us to two screenwriters whose work surprised us: Julien Vanlerenberghe and Stéphane Pannetier. They came up with this amazing story, born entirely from their imagination, combining police drama with science fiction. The world and scientific excitement of the west around an interesting question: how faith and science (desire and reason), seemingly opposite, are two sides of the same coin. At that time, we were looking for projects of the type aimed at advertisers (who had arrived in France). Science fiction did not scare us, our series The mission was released a few months ago (and it had done very well around the world), and we had just partnered with Federation Studios for the launch of a genre-defining label (for which we produced a horror series. Marianne for Netflix). So we decided to develop Infiniti together. A year later, no streamer wanted it but luckily Canal+, then STUDIOCANAL, joined us.

Can you summarize the series for us in a few sentences?

After a complicated docking maneuver on the ISS, ground control has lost contact with the station and the crew is in distress. Meanwhile, a decapitated body covered in wax was found on a roof in Kazakhstan. The identity leaves no room for doubt: the body belongs to Anthony Kurz, an American astronaut who is currently in the ISS, in an orbit 400 kilometers away in space. Anna Zarathi, a French astronaut, kicked out of the space program, is convinced that Kurz is asking for help from the ISS. He teams up with Isaak Turgun, a Kazakh police officer rejected by his superiors, to solve this mysterious riddle: Could Kurz be alive in space and dead on Earth?

What makes it unique? What are its global assets?

Thierry succeeded not only in creating a high-quality artistic direction but also in avoiding all the traps that such a story can set: to recreate the ISS with memories of the best hours of the conquest of space, to film for several months – in a complete disaster. – 6,000 kilometers from France, directing actors and technicians from all over Europe to the setting of the “Tower of Babel” where 4 to 5 languages ​​are available at any time, thus enhancing the size of the Kazakh steppes, and we are going to space. In our eyes, he managed to convince the most skeptical viewer and surprise fans of the genre. The audience was also able to embrace a powerful love story and discover a political intrigue that relates to contemporary events associated with the conquest of space. For the sake of authenticity, the series had to be filmed outside, to recreate the grandeur of the current launch sites and the dark remains of Baikonur’s glorious past. We also recorded several weeks in Ukraine, ten months before the Russian invasion, with an amazing crew. All these factors make Infiniti a unique series.

How did software marketing go internationally? Did his nomination for the International Emmy® Awards open doors for you?

The STUDIOCANAL teams did a great job. The series has been sold internationally, including Hong Kong, Norway, Australia, Spain, Portugal, Latin America, the Baltics, Israel and English-speaking Canada. The series has also been nominated for the next Unifrance Audiovisual Export Award, which rewards French television programs with the most international sales. We will see in the coming months if this International Emmy® Award nomination has had an impact on the remaining territories or even on new windows in countries that have already purchased the services. It’s great that one of our offerings is going worldwide.