Arte France, behind Oscar winner “Sentimental Value,” has boarded new series “Hormones,” produced by TOP – The Originals Productions, headed by Alex Berger and behind milestone espionage thriller “The Bureau.”
A period drama anticipating the polemic strewn current day, “Hormones” is written by Noé Debré, a co-scribe of Cannes Palme d’Or winner ‘“Dheepan” and Matt Damon starrer “Stillwater.”
“Hormones” is co-written by novelist Joachim Schnerf (“Cette Nuit”) and co-produced with the Studio TF1-owned Moonshaker Films, headed by Benjamin Elalouf and behind Yvan Attal’s box office hit “Le Brio” and the Debré directed “A Good Jewish Boy.”
A six-part series set in 1930s Netherlands, it begins with a German researcher discovering sex hormones, developing the world’s first contraception pill which she tests on the workers of an abattoir with their full consent, Arte France’s Alexandre Piel commented at an Arte France Showcase at Series Mani on Thursday.
The very idea of female sex hormones, however, was truly taboo at the time, sparking waves of violence in the abattoir and the surrounding town which captures a Europe on the cusp of World War II.
Piel also announced shoot dates for two anticipated Arte productions. One, “L’homme au manteau de sing,” will go into production late summer/early Autumn.
It is directed and co-written by Mathias Gokalp, whose “The Ordinary People” played Cannes Critics’ Week in 2009 while “Amour Fou” scooped best series at the 2020 Luchon Film Festival. Gokalp and indeed Marc Recha co-scribe Nadine Lamari (“Little Indi”) who scored at Venice Horizons with 2025’s “Silent Rebellion”). It turns on the true story of the growing friendship between flamboyant celeb art forger Fernand Legros and the magistrate who must settle the case as quickly and quietly as possible. But The case becomes a global scandal. A series which blurs truth and lies, art and imposture, pop and tragedy, “L’homme au manteau de sing,” is a “real life ‘Catch Me If You Can” revealing the genius of Legros but also his judge,” Piel enthused. A highly attractive cast will be announced shortly, he added.
Produced by Arte France, Caroline Nataf at Unité and 9.15 Films, “Deux fois disparu” will roll this May, created by Mathieu Dong, Stéphane Bermans and Benjamin Daoust, the same Belgian creative team behind “The Break” (2018) and “Good People.”
Noirish and pretty realistic, said Piel, “Deux fois disparu” will star ‘Outlander’s’ Cesar Domboy and Guillaume Pottier (“Squad 36”).
A full-hour packed with clips from recent and upcoming titles, the 2026 Arte showcase left clear several things. While most broadcasters are downscaling, Arte still harbours large ambitions. Faced with the market dominance of U.S. global streamers, Europe has to hit back via alliances and diversity, establishing a permanent dialog between its different worlds of imagination and cultures, Arte France CEO Bruno Patino said in a keynote. Here Arte could play a role, “modestly but with resolution,” he added.
Playing off a six-language broadcast which means it can be viewed by 75% of Europeans in their mother tongue, Arte is still growing. Led by main competition contender “Anatomy of a Moment” from Alberto Rodríguez and Rafael Cobos and a special screening of Yaga Levi’s “Etty,” Arte had six series selected for Series Mania this year, a sign of its strong line in artistically ambitious and socially relevant titles, passions shard by the French TV festival.
In 2024, Arte saw 3.3 billion views, 19% up on 2023, and boasted 38 million subscribers to its social networks, 20% up on a year earlier. Part of that growth comes from alliances with like-minded broadcasters, such as Spain’s Movistar Plus+. One highlight at the Arte France showcase was first-look excerpts from Jorge and Alberto Sánchez-Cabezudo’s “To Kill a Bear,” a murder mystery where the victim is a bear, inspired by true events in the Spanish Pyrenees, and shot in its Val d’Aran, whose landscapes are to die for.
The emotional highpoint of the Showcase was struck, however, by Pouria Takavar, creator-director of short-format coming of age series “Happiness” Season 2, selected for Series Mania. It tracks young Irani exile Shadi now living in France, torn between homesickness and the struggle of Iranian women. “A lot of young Iranis – artists, athletes and students are now in prison. They don’t know what’s going to happen next. They don’t know if they’re going to be sentenced to death,” Takavar told the Series Mania audience.
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