Herezie and Amazon Prime Video France Launch 100% TikTok Series CITES

Feb. 26, 2021

Starting February 26, 2021, Prime Video France is launching, exclusively on TikTok, CITÉS, a series written and directed by French author and artist Abd Al Malik. 

An original idea by Herezie, produced and designed by and for TikTok  

CITÉS is the first Prime Video series 100% TikTok - all the stages of production (casting, shooting, editing, broadcasting) were made or created for the platform. 

►Direction: 

Produced by Quad stories, the series, composed of 12 episodes of up to 60 seconds (the maximum length of a TikTok), was shot on an iPhone. The series is also partly post-produced with the platform’s creative tools and filters. The series’ codes are rooted in the application’s trends – its dances, music, street art… 

►Casting: 

Last December, Prime Video launched a challenge on TikTok: #PrimeVideoCasting.  In two videos, Abd Al Malik called on the platform's users to reinterpret a classic from French heritage. A total of more than 45,000 participants, 105 million views and a dozen actors 100% selected on TikTok. 

►Broadcast: 

The series will run on TikTok, hosted on @primevideofr (Amazon Prime Video France) as well as a dedicated page within the platform. The day before the series’ release (2/25) director Abd Al Malik and a selection of actors held a live Q&A, and bonus content, including a making-of and interviews with the cast and crew, will be available. 

Culture as a way of rediscovering togetherness 

At the heart of the plot: French youth and their relationship to French heritage. 

In France, in every neighborhood, every village, every city center, there are places that bear the names of prominent figures representing our cultural heritage. Places like Albert Camus Middle School, George Sand Square, Isabelle Eberhardt Library, Aragon Plaza – stages of everyday life, where youth from all walks of life meet up to rap, dance, skateboard, play basketball, football, or simply hang out. 

CITÉS is a new genre of series that shows us the trials and tribulations of a group of friends (aged 15 to 25), spread out across France, connected by TikTok who, using the app’s features, bring to life notable quotes from famed authors. 

 That’s what is being told – with that inventiveness and flamboyance so distinctive of today’s youth. CITÉS is the first series entirely created on TikTok, an online platform and playful tool of communication all at once.  

Abd Al Malik said:

" CITÉS highlights the relationship between youth and France’s cultural heritage by striving to show that there is no disconnection between them. We just have to tell it through the prism of our times. "