7.8 /10 1 Votes
4.1/5 AlloCine Country of origin France No. of seasons 2 Network Canal+ Genre Comedy | 7.6/10 IMDb Theme music composer Christophe Julien Original language(s) French First episode date 13 February 2012 Executive producer Marco Cherqui | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Created by Marc Victor
Allan Mauduit
Jean-Patrick Benes Starring Gilbert Melki
Simon Abkarian
Stéphanie Pasterkamp Program creators Marc Victor, Jean-Patrick Benes, Allan Mauduit Similar Derren Brown: Trick of th, Trick or Treat, Kevin McCloud's Escape to, Bad Robots, Educating the East End Profiles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kaboul Kitchen is a French comedy television series broadcast by Canal+. It was created by Marc Victor, Allan Mauduit and Jean-Patrick Benes. The series is based on the true story of Radio France Internationale journalist Marc Victor, who ran a restaurant for French expatriates in Kabul until 2008. The first series premiered on February 15, 2012 on Canal+ and ended on March 5, 2012. It set a ratings record for comedy series in the primetime slot on Canal+. A second series of 12 episodes aired in France in 2014.
Contents
The series depicts the life of French expatriate Jacky who runs the popular restaurant Kaboul Kitchen in Kabul, Afghanistan. His daughter Sophie, who he has not seen in 20 years, arrives to do humanitarian work, while he is interested only in making money.
The series won two Golden FIPA Awards at the 2012 Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels: one for Best TV Series and one for Best TV Screenplay. It was screened at MIPTV and named fourth on The Hollywood Reporter's list of "MIPTV A-List Projects" for the most promising series screened at the event.
Cast
Production
The series is loosely based on the real life experiences of journalist and co-creator of the series, Marc Victor. From 2003 to 2008, Victor ran a French restaurant for foreign NGO workers in Kabul. Although much in the series is for dramatic effect, a few incidents, such as a wealthy donor sending skis to Afghanistan, really happened.
Gilbert Melki was selected to play the mercenary Jacky as he had evenly divided his career between comedy and drama films, a quality creator Allan Mauduit found desirable. The series was filmed mainly in Casablanca, Morocco where the crew had to use dust machines to simulate the dusty conditions of Kabul. The actors studied Dari with language coaches.