French Producers on Making ‘Kabul,’ a Thriller Depicting Chaotic Aftermath of Talibans’ Takeover With Personal Insight and International Scope (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The Taliban’s sweep to power in Afghanistan in 2021 serves as the backdrop to “Kabul,” one of France’s most ambitious international thriller dramas to date.

The six-part geopolitical show, which is world premiering today at Series Mania in Lille, emerged from the first-hand experience of producer Fabienne Servan-Schreiber who played a direct role in the chaotic evacuation efforts.

While vacationing in Greece with her son (and fellow producer) Matthias Weber, Servan-Schreiber heard of the situation in Kabul and got fully involved in efforts to rescue multiple families of Afghan artists and doctors.

Speaking to Variety along with Weber on the eve of “Kabul”‘s presentation at Series Mania, Servan-Schreiber says she was initially contacted by Jean-Michel Frodon, a film historian and journalist, who was looking for help to raise funds to buy plane tickets for a group of Afghan artists. “I sent the email to everyone in my address book and got some great responses from people like Jane Birkin and others who said: ‘What can we do?’ Because people were very, very anxious about the situation,” says Servan-Schreiber who ultimately produced the series with Charlotte Ortiz at Cinétévé, and Matthias Weber and Thibault Gast at 24 25 Films, a Mediawan company. “It was August 13th and two days later there were no more private planes.