Rematch | Yan England’s winning shot

Time “slowed down” for Yan England last Friday evening at the Séries Mania television festival in France. When the president of the jury announced that Rematch, his first international series, won the prestigious Grand Prix, the Quebec director and screenwriter felt that he was entering another dimension. “It was like in the movies. »

In a telephone interview 48 hours after returning to Quebec, Yan England describes with enthusiasm – and meticulousness – the seconds preceding his victory. A victory that he did not expect, despite the rave reviews he received during the event, which welcomes thousands of professionals from the television sector to Lille each year. According to the organizers, the 2024 edition of the festival would have brought together 4,200, in addition to attracting 98,000 visitors from the public.

Of Figaro (“bold”) Parisian (“a true psychological thriller”), through Telerama (“with wise malice”), The weather (“a series which will be one of the shocks of the year”), France Info (“exciting”) and West France (“captivating”), the European media praised the Franco-Hungarian co-production intended for the Arte network, which chronicles the legendary confrontation between the Russian world chess champion Garry Kasparov and the IBM super computer Deep Blue, in 1997.

“I was just happy to participate in the festival,” comments Yan England.

The jury is seduced

The Press asked the festival the reasons why the jury of the international section had awarded the highest award to Rematch. Via email, we received this statement: “Because it sounds like a modern fairy tale that we need today. Because it has rhythm, tension and the momentum of a thriller, but it is a simple story about a complex game: chess. »

The organization also stressed that “the entire jury” left the viewing “with smiles on their faces and sweaty hands”.

” What a nice surprise ! exclaims Yan England. What a beautiful gift! I am very, very happy for the whole team. We’ve been working on this for so long. »

Guarantee of confidence

With an international cast including the British Christian Cooke and Tom Austen, the Danish Trice Dyrholm and the Irish Sarah Bolger, the miniseries Rematch will land on Arte next fall. The project came from a meeting in 2017 between Yan England and Bruno Nahon (So let them be, Louise Wimmer), its producer. England, who had distinguished himself a few years earlier with Henryhis short film selected for the Oscars, had just launched his first feature film, 1:54. Screenwriter André Gulluni (Robotic portrait, Sat) quickly joined the duo, then, once the scenarios were completed, HBO Europe and Disney+ United Kingdom embarked on the adventure as financial partners.

Filmed in 2022 partially in Montreal and mainly in Budapest (Hungary), Rematch counts on other Quebec talents, including Jérôme Sabourin (photo direction) and Sylvain Lemaitre (art direction). Post-production took place entirely in France.

As for the choice of English to tell this story, Yan England speaks of an organic decision. “Because the action takes place in New York, and because it’s a story that involves a megacorporation, IBM. For the sake of authenticity, we said to ourselves that we had to tell it in English. »

After, but before The Queen’s Gambit

Yan England expected it: most of the articles published in recent days on Rematch mention another series on the world of chess, The Queen’s Gambit. Released in 2020 and starring Anya Taylor-Joy, the seven-episode drama was a huge success on Netflix by chronicling the rise of a 64-square chessboard prodigy.

Yan England has a clear memory of the moment Scott Frank’s work landed online. “Until then, André [Gulluni] and I was writing a series about something that no one had ever talked about, recalls the screenwriter and director. So when The Queen’s Gambit is out, Bruno [Nahon], André and I all called each other saying: “Oh no! What is this ?” »

Yan England, however, says that after watching the first episodes, the tension subsided. “Apart from chess, the two series have nothing to do with each other. »

“Today, I find it super positive,” continues the actor. The Queen’s Gambit brought chess back to the forefront. Chess is cool again. People are interested in it again. And in Rematch, they will discover something completely different. It’s a much rawer, much more sporting vision of the game of chess. »

Yan England doesn’t know when Rematch will be released in Quebec. However, he knows that a version dubbed in French is currently in the works. “The goal is for it to come out everywhere in the fall. »