Oble has boarded international distribution rights to “The Firebrands,” a five-part series adapted Camille Rebetez’s Swiss graphic novel saga.
Directed by Delphine Lehericey (“The Last Dance”), the five-part drama has been commissioned by RTS, the Swiss national broadcaster and will premiere in 2023. “The Firebrands” is produced by well-established banners, Box Productions and Entre Chien et Loup.
The drama begins in the early 1970’s in the Swiss countryside where three friends, Lulu, Chiara and Joe, are on the brink of adulthood and dream of building a world of freedom and equality, where no one is left behind. As the hippie wave ignites young people everywhere and hard drugs find their way to their conservative village, the trio witness the damages of excesses and addiction.
Co-written by Rebetez alongside Joanne Giger, Aurélie Champagne and Olivier Volpi, “The Firebrands” follows Lulu, Chiara and Joe throughout the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s from youthful rebellion, passionate idealism to adulthood when they shatter old ways of thinking and living to erect new ones, put their dreams into action and build a pioneering shelter for drug addicts.
Along with “The Firebrands” series, Box Productions and RTS also co-produced the one-hour documentary, “Addictions” which examines the drugs crisis in Switzerland which inspired “The Firebrands.” The docu also explores the country’s subsequent innovative and radical drugs policy, which is now widely implemented. Switzerland’s “four pillar model” – prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and law enforcement – has been credited with reducing the country’s overdose deaths by 50%, and new heroin users by 80% between 1991-2010.
“In the hands of Delphine Lehericey, ‘The Firebrands’ shimmers with life on the screen,” said Katia Sol, Oble co-founder. “Through the eyes of each character we experience crucial social changes in three decades that have shaped the world today, particularly the consequences of addiction not just for the individual but for their community, friends and family, and the importance of holding on to your dreams.”
Elena Tatti at Box Productions said “‘The Firebrands’ is much much more than a coming-of-age story, it’s a touching, funny, moving saga that celebrates universal themes of friendship, history, family and home.”