MANON 20 YEARS / Manon 20 ans

 

North American Premiere • TV Series • Drama • France, 2017

Blu-ray • Color • 3 x 52 min • All Episodes  

Developed by: Jean Xavier de Lestrade

Directed by: Jean Xavier de Lestrade

Written by: Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, Antoine Lacomblez

Produced by: Nicole Collet (Image et Companie), Arte

Cast: Alba Gaïa Kraghede Bellugi (Manon), Théo Cholbi , Déborah François, Marina Foïs, Xavier Mathieu, Claire Bouanich

International Sales: Film & Picture

Original Broadcast: Arte, 2017

 

In 2014, the mini-series 3x Manon explored the problems facing troubled teenagers. Manon, a strong but impetuous 15 year-old, is sentenced to six months in juvenile detention after seriously injuring her mother in a fit of rage. Manon 20 Years picks up the story a few years later, and the result is a hard-edged snapshot of a precarious generation. Manon, faithfully inhabited by Intouchables star Alba Gaïa Kraghede Bellugi, juggles passion and companionship in her love life while trying to deal with blatant sexism among her fellow mechanics at the repair shop. But trouble calls again after she reconnects with her mother, and goes looking for her father.

 

During his early years as a documentarian, writer/director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade traveled extensively in search of stories revealing the darker mechanisms of society, especially those that lead to a miscarriage of justice. This search took him to Florida, where his documentary of the murder trial of a teenage African-American, Murder on a Sunday Morning, earned him a 2002 Best Documentary Oscar. Lestrade followed that up the HBO backed mini-series The Staircase, revolving around the Tennessee novelist Michael Peterson, convicted of murdering his wife in 2001. The film is regarded as a seminal true-crime masterpiece, inspiring later films such as The Jinx, Making of a Murderer, and even the podcast Serial. The stresses of that film lead to Lestrade’s decision to transition to fiction. In 2014 he developed the first three Manon installments. Lestrade directed several episodes of Malaterra (2015-), the French adaptation of Broadchurch.