''Kaboul Kitchen'' is a French

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television series broadcast by

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

. It was created by Marc Victor, Allan Mauduit and Jean-Patrick Benes. The series is based on the true story of

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with ...

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. 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 in keeping the restaurant afloat with challenges of local officials, Taliban neighbors, and more. The series won two Golden FIPA Awards at the 2012

Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels The ''International Festival of Audiovisual Programmes'' or ''International Documentary Festival FIPADOC'' ( (FIPA)), founded in 1987 by Michel Mitrani (1930-1996), was first held in Cannes in October 1987., In 2019, the FIPA became FIPADOC,,, an ...

: one for Best TV Series and one for Best TV Screenplay. It was screened at MIPTV and named fourth on ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

s list of "MIPTV A-List Projects" for the most promising series screened at the event.

Cast

Gilbert Melki Gilbert Melki (; born 12 November 1958) is a French actor. Life and career Nephew of actor Claude Melki ('' The Acrobat''), Melki grew up in a Jewish family from Algeria. His father, an antiques dealer, came from Khenchela in Algeria and his mo ...

as Jacky * as Sophie * Benjamin Bellecour as Axel *

Alexis Michalik Alexis Michalik, born 13 December 1982, is a Franco-British actor, scriptwriter and director. He adapted Shakespeare's ''Romeo and Juliet'' into his play ''R & J'' and he has written and staged his own plays, including '' Le Porteur d'histoire'' ...

as Damien *

Simon Abkarian Simon Abkarian (Armenian: Սիմոն Աբկարյան, born March 5, 1962) is a French-Armenian actor. Life and career Born in Gonesse, Val d'Oise, of Armenian descent, Abkarian spent his childhood in Lebanon. He moved to Los Angeles, wher ...

as Colonel Amanullah *

Marc Citti Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system o ...

as Victor * Braham Bihi as Sayed * Nadia Niazi as Hamida * Fayçal Azizi as Habib * Fanny Touron as Camille * Jonas Senhadji as Carl * Lucia Sanchez as Rosemary * Serge Dupire as Bob *

Louis-Do de Lencquesaing Louis-Do de Lencquesaing (born 25 December 1963) is a French actor and film director. His daughter, Alice de Lencquesaing, is also an actress. Filmography As an actor *''Les dernières heures du millénaire'' (1990, Short) *''Madame Bovary'' ...

as Paul Braque

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.

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 Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

where the crew had to use dust machines to simulate the dusty conditions of Kabul. The actors studied

Dari Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī ...

with language coaches. A third season was broadcast in France in 2017. It has not been translated into English yet but is detailed on the french wikipedia page https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaboul_Kitchen A fourth season has been claimed to be in production.

Episode list

Series 1

Ratings

Awards

* 2012 Golden FIPA Award for the Best TV Series at the

* 2012 Golden FIPA Award for the Best TV Screenplay at the

* 2014 Grand prize (Daesang) at the

Seoul International Drama Awards Seoul International Drama Awards (), simply known as SDA, is an annual award ceremony based in Seoul, South Korea which honors excellence in television drama productions worldwide. Winners Grand prize (''Daesang'') Program Winners are given ...

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 2208885 French television sitcoms 2012 French television series debuts Canal+ original programming