THE DEAL

North American Premiere | TV Series | France, Switzerland, Luxembourg | 2025 | Political Thriller | 6 x 52 min | Episodes 1 & 2 | In English. In French & Persian with English subtitles

Directed by: Jean-Stéphane Bron
Created by: Alice Winocour, Jean-Stéphane Bron
Written by: Alice Winocour, Jean-Stéphane Bron, Eugène Riousse, Julien Lacombe, Stéphane Mitchell, Valentine Monteil
Produced by: Philippe Martin & David Thion (Les Films Pelléas), Isabelle Degeorges, Clémentine Vaudaux & Sidonie Dumas (Gaumont), Frédéric Mermoud, Ursula Meier, Jean-Stéphane Bron & Lionel Baier (Bande à Part), Jacques-Henri Bronckart & Tatjana Kozar (Versus Production), Christel Henon & Lilian Eche (Bidibul Productions)
Cinematography: Adrien Bertolle
Original Score: Amine Bouhafa, Christian Garcia-Gaucher, Gast Waltzing
Film Editing: Sarah Anderson, Jean-Baptiste Morin
Cast: Veerle Baetens (Alexandra Weiss), Juliet Stevenson (Cindy Cohen), Anthony Azizi (Moshem Madavi), Alexander Behrang Keshtkar (Ali Katibi), Sam Crane (Andrew Porter), Max Hubacher (Olivier Dayer), Arash Marandi (Payam Sanjabi), André Marcon (Walter Brunner)
International Sales: Gaumont
Original Broadcasting: Arte (Date TBA)

Synopsis

ARTE’s upcoming miniseries The Deal could not be more timely. Set against the backdrop of 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement negotiations in Geneva, its fictionalized plot follows would-be-Swiss diplomat Alexandra Weiss through her tense first days on the job, as she unexpectedly takes the reins of what is considered the “last chance round” of tough deal-brokering between U.S. government representatives and their Iranian counterparts. Yet remaining neutral becomes even more difficult when Alexandra’s former lover suddenly turns up as Iran’s expert nuclear engineer. Then the Mossad appears, adding a soupçon of espionage to the mix… Highly suspenseful and briskly told, the tale also features a standout performance by immense British stage and screen actress Juliet Stevenson (Truly, Madly, Deeply) as dynamo U.S. Under Secretary of State, Cindy Cohen.

Creators’ Biographies

Director/showrunner Jean-Stéphane Bron has written, produced and directed numerous award-winning documentaries, features and mini-series. His first theatrical documentary, Corn in Parliament (2003), was a major box-office hit in Switzerland. In 2006, he made his first narrative feature, My Brother Is Getting Married. That was followed by Cleveland Versus Wall Street, (2010), which premiered at the Cannes Director’s Fortnight. In 2009, he co-founded the production company Bande à Part Films with fellow Swiss directors Ursula Meier, Lionel Baier and Frédéric Mermoud.

Alice Winocour has directed three short films and wrote the script for Vladimir Perisic’s Serbian feature Ordinary People (2009). Her own first feature, Augustine, was presented at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival Critics’ Week and premiered at COLCOA in 2013. Her second feature, Maryland, was screened in the 2015 Un Certain Regard section in Cannes. She co-wrote the script for Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Mustang (2015), which premiered in Cannes and was selected as the French entry for that year’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Her feature Proxima premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, and her upcoming feature, Coutures, starring Angelina Jolie, will be released in 2025.