Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan (“Mommy,” “It’s Only the End of the World”) is in early development on “Rage,” a TV series set amid racial tensions in 1980s Paris.
“Rage” — which will be pitched to prospective partners at Rome’s upcoming MIA Market dedicated to international TV series, animation, feature films and documentaries — explores the rise of the skinhead movement in 1980s Paris that gave birth to militant groups known as the “Chasseurs de skins” or skinhead hunters. The French skinhead hunters fought against local skinheads and their racist crimes, sometimes using their same violent methods.
Dolan, who is 36, stunned fans in 2023 by announcing on Instagram that he was retiring from filmmaking. He hasn’t directed a film since the 2019 drama “Matthias & Maxime,” though he did make the Canadian drama series “The Night Logan Woke Up,” which aired in 2022. Prior to that, Dolan directed eight feature films in a decade, winning the Cannes Jury Prize for “Mommy” in 2014 and the Cannes Grand Prix award in 2016 for “It’s Only the End of the World.” He has also directed several music videos, notably for the Adele singles “Hello” in 2015. Last year at the Lumiere Film Festival, Dolan said he was working on a new feature project but provided very few details.
“Rage” is being produced by Manon Robillot and Laetitia Quentin de Gromard’s Paris-based Madelon Production. The show’s scripts are written by Anaïs Topla, Mathieu Gouny and Marc Herpoux.
The more than 60 projects selected by MIA, which will run Oct. 6-10, also include Dutch TV series “Red Light Empire,” about a Holocaust orphan determined to build an empire in Amsterdam’s red-light district, produced by Dutch production group Lemming Film; and “Guests,” a dramedy following a man named Shadi as he returns to his Bedouin village in Palestine to help his mother manage a guesthouse, produced by the Palestine and Jordan-based company Philistine Films.
