Throughout May, the international French-language network TV5 Monde offers a rich lineup of entertaining films, series, and variety shows.

Discover our round-up of the must-see programs this month below.

TV5 Monde

Special

L’invité—May 13-24 at 1:45pm ET/10:45am PT

Cannes Film Festival Red Carpet Special

Host Patrick Simonin will be on the red carpet interviewing the stars at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Host: Patrick Simonin (France, 2025)
Genre: News

Films

Peaux de vaches—May 1 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

Also streaming on TV5MONDEplus

Two brothers set fire to the family farm, inadvertently causing the death of a tramp hiding there. The elder shoulders the blame, protecting his younger brother. Ten years later, Roland leaves prison and returns to see Gérard who immediately thinks Roland is out for revenge…

Adieu Berthe – L’enterrement de Mémé—May 2 at 11:30pm ET/8:30pm PT

A Podalydès Brothers’ Film

Armand is kept on his toes by his pharmacy and his passion for magic. Sentimentally, he is torn between his wife Hélène and his mistress Alix and also has to juggle his father, who has Alzheimer’s and his busybody mother-in-law. When his grandmother passes away, he is rapidly overwhelmed. Michel is a computer graphics designer and an avid fan of airmail. One day, he discovers a new passion for kayaking. He decides to buy a kit boat and, encouraged by his wife Rachelle, heads off on a solo trip. He is soon meets more and more people along the river.

Director: Bruno Podalydès (France, 2011)
Cast: Denis Podalydès, Valérie Lemercier, and Isabelle Candelier
Genre: Comedy
Awards: Nominated at the Cesar Awards – Best Original Screenplay (France, 2013), the French Film Festival in Cuba (Cuba, 2014), the Hong Kong French Film Festival (Hong Kong, 2012), and Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Official Selection (France, 2012)

La dérive des continents (au sud)—May 4 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

Nathalie is on a mission for the European Union to organize visits by Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron to a refugee camp in Sicily. Her son Albert is also there with his NGO. With his brothers in arms, he is there to protest against his mother and this diplomatic trip.

Director: Lionel Baier (Switzerland, 2022)
Cast: Isabelle Carré, Théodore Pellerin, and Ursina Lardi
Genre: Drama
Awards: Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Official Selection (France, 2022), Angoulême French Film Festival (France, 2022), Swiss French Film Festival (Switzerland, 2022), Hamburg International Festival (Germany, 2022), and Montreal Festival of New Cinema (Canada, 2022)

Une aussi longue absence—May 6 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

Thérèse Langlois is intrigued by a tramp, who looks just like her husband, deported by the Germans fifteen years earlier. She decides to follow him, to be certain that it is indeed him. But he’s suffering from amnesia. Patiently, Thérèse tries to find a way to reawaken his memories…

Director: Henri Colpi (France, Italy, 1960)
Cast: Alida Valli, Georges Wilson, and Charles Blavette
Genre: Drama
Awards: Cannes Palme d’Or Winner (1961) and Louis Delluc Prize Winner (1960)

Les Harkis —May 6 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

Set during the Algerian War (1954-1962), a group of impoverished young Algerian men, known as Harkis, volunteer to join the French Army.

Director: Philippe Faucon (France, 2022)
Cast: Théo Cholbi, Omar Boulakirba, and Pierre Lottin
Genre: Drama
Awards: Cannes Film Festival Director’s Fortnight official selection (2022)

Dalva— May 11 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

12-year-old Dalva behaves and dresses like a grown woman. The authorities are notified and her single father’s custody is withdrawn. She is put in a hostel where she starts to rebel against this situation, which she finds unfair before gradually realizing what she has endured.

Director: Emmanuelle Nicot (Belgium, France, 2022)
Cast: Zelda Samson, Alexis Manenti, Fanta Guirassi, and Marie Denarnaud
Genre: Drama
Awards: Cannes Film Festival Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award, FIPRESCI Prize Winners, Critics’ Week Grand Prize, and Golden Camera Nominees (2022)

Les pires— May 13 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

A film crew sets up in a disadvantaged suburb of Boulogne-sur-Mer. At the end of the casting, the inhabitants are stunned: the four teenagers selected to play the leading roles are considered to be the bad lot in the suburb. Lily, Maylis, Jessy, and Ryan, the happy chosen ones, cannot believe it themselves.

Directors: Lise Akoka and Romane Guéret (France, 2021)
Cast: Mallory Wanecques, Timéo Mahaut, Loïc Pech, and Mélina Vanderplancke
Genre: Drama
Awards: Cannes Film Festival A Certain Regard Winner, Golden Camera Nominee (2022)

Un petit frère— May 15 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival
Also streaming on TV5MONDEplus beginning May 7

Rose leaves the Ivory Coast for France with her two sons Jean and Ernest. The single mother gets a job as a chambermaid and struggles every day to keep her family afloat. As teenagers and then young adults, Jean and Ernest are confronted by the difficulties of integration.

Director: Léonor Serraille (France, 2022)
Cast: Annabelle Lengronne, Stéphane Bak, Ahmed Sylla, and Kenzo Sambin
Genre: Drama
Awards: Cannes Film Festival Palm d’Or Nominee (2022)

Àma gloria— May 18 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

Six-year-old Cléo lives with her kind, but often absent father, and her nanny Gloria, whom she loves. But Gloria has to definitively return to Cape Verde to look after her children. The separation is brutal and Cléo is crushed. Her father sends her to spend the summer with Gloria.

Director: Marie Amachoukeli (France, 2022)
Cast: Louise Mauroy-Panzani, Ilça Moreno Zego, Arnaud Rebotini, and Abnara Gomes Varela
Genre: Dramedy
Awards: Cannes Film Festival Critics’ Week Official Opener (2022)

Roubaix, une lumière— May 20 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

Roubaix on Christmas Eve. Superintendent Daoud and his colleague Louis are investigating the murder of an old lady. The loot stolen from her home was derisory. The neighbours of the deceased, drug addicts and alcoholics, quickly appear to be the main suspects…

Director: Arnaud Desplechin (France, 2019)
Cast: Roschdy Zem, Léa Seydoux, Sara Forestier, and Antoine Reinartz
Genre: Thriller
Awards: Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or and Queer Palm Nominees (2019)

La bataille du rail— May 22 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

During the Second World War, many French railway workers took part in the resistance. Daily acts of sabotage, spectacular derailments: the French railway network took many actions against Nazi occupation. A station manager Camargue, and his deputy Athos risk their lives in managing the network in their sector.

Director: René Clément (France, 1945)
Cast: Tony Laurent, Lucien Desagneaux, Charles Boyer, and Jean Clarieux
Genre: Historical Drama
Awards: Cannes Film Festival International Jury Prize, Best Director Winners (1946)

Goutte d’or— May 25 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

Rames, a crafty fraudster with a certain talent for dramatics, runs a successful clairvoyance practice in the Goutte d’Or district in Paris. Up until a gang of street children arrive and start to spread terror there: the fake witchdoctor is going to have his first real vision.

Director: Clément Cogitore (France, 2022)
Cast: Karim Leklou, Ahmed Benaissa, Elsa Wolliaston, and Malik Zidi
Genre: Dramedy
Awards: Cannes Film Festival Critics’ Week Official Selection (2022)

La salamandre— May 27 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

Tribute to Alain Tanner

Also streaming on TV5MONDEplus

Two friends, Pierre and Paul, join forces to write a screenplay based on real events: the story of a young worker Rosemonde, accused of attempting to murder her uncle, before finally being acquitted for lack of evidence. Paul, somewhat of a dreamer, imagines the character. Pierre, anchored in reality, investigates.

Director: Alain Tanner (Switzerland, 1971)
Cast: Bulle Ogier, Jean-Luc Bideau, Jacques Denis, and Marblum Jequier
Genre: Dark comedy
Awards: Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight Official Selection (France, 1971)

Yeelen la lumière— May 29 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

Tribute to Souleymane Cissé, who passed away on February 19, 2025

Also streaming on TV5MONDEplus beginning May 1

A gifted young man with magical powers embarks on a journey to seek his uncle’s aid in confronting his powerful sorcerer father.

Director: Souleymane Cissé (Mali, 1987)
Cast: Issiaka Kane, Aoua Sangare, and Niamanto Sanogo
Genre: Drama, fantasy
Awards: Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize, Prize of the Ecumenical Jury – Special Mention Winners, and Palm d’Or Nominee (France, 1987)

Series

Neumatt—Sundays starting May 4 at 11:30pm ET/8:30pm PT

Season 2 Premiere

Also streaming on TV5MONDEplus

Michi leads a frenzied life in the city. When his father Kurt dies, he returns to Neumatt and discovers a general a farm in chaos: his brother is overwhelmed by everything, his sister couldn’t care less. Their mother, Katharina, tries to hide the real cause of her husband’s death: suicide.
Michi has made up his mind: he’s going to take over the family farm, Neumatt. With his brother Lorenz and girlfriend Jessie expecting their first baby, he begins his new life as a farmer.

Director: Sabine Boss and Pierre Monnard (Switzerland, 2023)
Cast: Julian Koechlin, Rachel Braunschweig, Sophie Hutter, and Jérôme Humm
Genre: Drama

Zetwal caraïbes—Tuesdays starting May 13 at 11:30pm ET/8:30pm PT

Season 1 premiere

Also streaming on TV5MONDEplus

The trials and tribulations of four students at a drama school in Guadeloupe. Despite their very different backgrounds and personal challenges, all are fighting to make their dreams come true.
Ep.1: Jacob, Emily, Nathalie, and Lionel are drama students and have been selected by their teacher Marianne to represent Guadeloupe for the West Indies-French Guiana drama competition. As Jacob and Emily begin to feel a mutual attraction, the spark between Lionel and Nathalie is rekindled.
Ep. 2: Jacob is taken aback by the revelation made by Iris, with whom he had a one-night stand. Following her mother’s death, Nathalie is in search of the father she never knew. Lionel begins dealing in drugs again.

Director: Luccio Di Rosa (France, 2024)
Cast: Mathew Bazile, Angelyna Danabe Mignot, Axelle Laurent, and Youri Lauriette
Genre: Dramedy

Toute la vie—Wednesdays starting May 28 at 11:30pm ET/8:30pm PT

Season 3 premiere

Also streaming on TV5MONDEplus

Marie-Labrecque School supports approximately 60 pregnant adolescents and young mothers, ages 12 to 17, by offering education and parenting guidance to help them care for their babies after birth.
Ep.1: Carolle visits Christophe in hospital where he’s recovering from being attacked. She can’t stop herself from giving him the latest news about Derek. They are determined to do all they can to help him.
Ep. 2: As they accompany Daphné, who has to appear before the judge, Anne and Christophe have an unexpected encounter. Julie asks for advice from her lawyer before deciding whether to bring charges concerning what happened to her when she was a teenager.

Director: Jean-Philippe Duval (Canada, 2021)
Cast: Hélène Bourgeois Leclerc, Roy Dupuis, Marie-Chantal Perron, Madeleine Péloquin, and Marguerite Bouchard
Genre: Drama

Documentaries

Juste une mise au point— Sundays starting May 4 at 4:00pm ET/1:00pm PT

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

Also streaming on TV5MONDEplus

From the start of their career to their most recent films, portraits of some of the most iconic French film directors.
Ep. Baya Kasmi: Director, screenwriter, and actress Baya Kasmi looks back at a film career that sets out to describe contemporary society with humor and derision. She directed Le Nom des Gens, Je Suis à vous Tout de Suite, Yousef Salem a du Succès…
Ep. Coline Serreau: She is the name behind one of the most successful French films ever: Trois Hommes et un Couffin. A look back at the career of the actress, screenwriter, and director Coline Serreau, who shares her vision of cinema and the world.
Ep. Étienne Chatiliez: After working in the world of advertising, Étienne Chatiliez began his cinema career with the now famous La Vie est un Long Fleuve Tranquille. A first film was followed by other memorable works: Tatie Danielle, Le Bonheur est dans le Pré, Tanguy…
Ep. Pascal Thomas: An out-of-the-ordinary filmmaker, who left his mark on an entire generation in the 1970s. Pascal Thomas began his career with Les Zozos, followed by Pleure pas la Bouche Pleine and Le Chaud Lapin. In 1999, he directed La Dilettante.

Director: Raphaëlle Catteau and Sébastien Labadie (France, 2022, 2023)
Genre: Documentary series

Romy Schneider, face à son destin— May 21 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

Also streaming on TV5MONDEplus

Evoking Romy Schneider (1938-1982) leaves no one indifferent. The beauty of the actress is admired by men and women alike, her talent recognized, often described as immense, her fragility on edge. A look back at the journey of a perfectionist, passionate about her roles, a great lover, eternally hurt by life.

Director: Sophie Agacinski (France, 2023)
Genre: Documentary

Le terminus des prétentieux— May 21 at 9:30pm ET/6:30pm PT

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

Also streaming on TV5MONDEplus

In 2020, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Michel Audiard’s birth, Gaumont opens its archives, revealing the author’s lesser-known works. ”Le Terminus des Prétentieux,” a title invented for many of his unfinished works, looks back over the life and work of one of France’s most prolific dialogue writers.
Paul Michel Audiard was a French screenwriter and director celebrated for his sharp, irreverent dialogue rich in slang, which helped establish him as a major cultural figure in France during the 1960s and 1970s. He wrote the screenplay for the classic French crime comedy film Les Tontons flingueurs.

Director: Sylvain Perret (France, 2020)
Genre: Documentary

TV5 Monde Plus

Films

Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse— Streaming beginning May 7

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

As Paul prepares to leave Tajikistan, he reflects on his teenage years—his childhood, his mother’s struggles with mental illness, wild parties, the trip to the Soviet Union where he lost his virginity, the friend who betrayed him, and the love of his life.

Director: Arnaud Desplechin (France, 2015)
Cast: Quentin Dolmaire, Lou Roy-Lecollinet, and Mathieu Amalric
Genre: Drama, romance
Awards: Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight Winner (2015) and César Awards Best Director Winner (2016)

Chouf— Streaming beginning May 7

In celebration of the Cannes Film Festival

Chouf means “look” in Arabic. It’s the name of the Marseille drug watch. When his brother, a local boss, is killed, Sofiane, ready to do anything to find the assassins, enters the business of his neighborhood. He abandons family, studies, and quickly climbs the ladder.

Director: Karim Dridi (France, 2016)
Cast: Sofian Khammes, Foued Nabba, and Oussama Abdul Aal
Genre: Crime, drama
Awards: Cannes Film Official Selection (2016)

Louloute— Streaming beginning May 7

Normandy, in the 1980s. Between the cows, Club Dorothée, and chunky woolen jumpers, life for 10-year-old Louloute is one of dreams, love, and family squabbles. But as the family farm falls further into debt, that life is about the change forever…

Director: Hubert Viel (France, 2019)
Cast: Alice Henri, Laure Calamy, and Bruno Clairefond
Genre: Drama

Series

Agathe Koltès— Streaming beginning May 7

Season 1 premiere

A French crime drama about a brilliant but emotionally distant detective, who secretly works under her accomplished daughter, also a detective. Their hidden family connection fuels tension, especially for the daughter, who harbors resentment over her mother’s past neglect.

Director: Christian Bonnet and Adeline Darraux (France, 2016)
Cast: Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Hortense Gélinet, Arnaud Binard, Serge Riaboukine, and Inès Melab
Genre: Crime, thriller

Heureux qui communique— Now streaming
TV5MONDE original

Places where people talk. They talk while travelling or talk about travelling, talk about anything and everything, for pleasure, just for the pleasure of talking. A series that plays with the French language, its exceptions and its difficulties, but always with a touch of indulgence and plenty of humour.

Director: Christian Essiambre (Canada, 2024)
Cast: France Castel, Germain Houde, and Roc Lafortune
Genre: Comedy, web series

TV5 Monde Cinema

Theme: French Films at Major Film Festivals

Americano— available beginning May 2

After his mother’s death, a Parisian returns to his childhood city of Los Angeles to handle her inheritance.

Director: Mathieu Demy (2011)
Cast: Mathieu Demy, Salma Hayek, and Géraldine Chaplin
Genre: Drama
Awards: 2011 San Sebastián International Film Festival Kutxa-New Directors Award Nominee

Alberto Express— available beginning May 2

A young Italian living in Paris with his French wife is about to become a father. Before the baby is born, he must repay his father for every expense from his birth until he left home, as part of a family tradition.

Director: Arthur Joffé (1990)
Cast: Sergio Castellitto, Nino Manfredi, Marie Trintignant, and Marco Messeri
Genre: Comedy
Awards: 2023 Festival international du film de Cannes Special Selection

Quelques jours pas plus— available beginning May 9

A renowned music critic is demoted to field reporting. While covering the evacuation of a migrant camp near Paris, he becomes a victim of police violence and unexpectedly becomes the face of the refugee cause.

Director: Julie Navarro (2024)
Cast: Benjamin Biolay, Camille Cottin, and Amrullah Safi
Genre: Drama
Awards: 2024 Tübingen | Stuttgart International French-language Film Festival Selection

Johnny Mad Dog— available beginning May 9

A fifteen-year-old child soldier in Liberia is haunted by the “mad dog” he strives to become.

Director: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire (2008)
Cast: Christopher Minie, Daisy Victoria Vandy, and Dagbeth Tweh
Genre: Drama, war
Awards: 2008 Cannes Film Festival Regard Hope Award Winner

Les âmes sœurs— available beginning May 16

After an attack on his military convoy in Mali, a French lieutenant is brought back home to recover.

Director: André Téchiné (2023)
Cast: Noémie Merlant, Benjamin Voisin, and Audrey Dana
Genre: Drama
Awards: 2023 Tübingen | Stuttgart International French-language Film Festival Selection

La promesse verte— available beginning May 16

A mother fights to save her son’s life after he is wrongfully sentenced to death while conducting research in Indonesia.

Director: Edouard Bergeon (2024)
Cast: Alexandra Lamy, Félix Moati, and Sofian Khammes
Genre: Drama
Awards: 2024 Festival du film français d’Helvétie (FFFH) selection

Le retour— available beginning May 23

A middle-aged woman working for a wealthy Parisian family is offered a summer in Corsica to care for their children. This gives her the chance to return with her own daughters to the island they left fifteen years earlier under tragic circumstances.

Director: Catherine Corsini (2023)
Cast: Aïssatou Diallo Sagna, Suzy Bemba, and Esther Gohourou
Genre: Drama
Awards: 2023 Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or Nominee

Les amants réguliers— available beginning May 23

Two twenty-year-olds fall in love in 1969.

Director: Philippe Garrel (2005)
Cast: Louis Garrel, Clotilde Hesme, and Julien Lucas
Genre: Drama
Awards: 2006 César Awards Most Promising Actor Winner

Les estivants— available beginning May 30

A woman grapples with a recent breakup and the pressure of writing her next film while on vacation with her quirky family at a villa on the French Riviera.

Director: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (2018)
Cast: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Pierre Arditi, and Valeria Golino
Genre: Dramedy
Awards: 2020 David di Donatello Awards Best Actress Nominee

Omar la fraise— available beginning May 30

A gangster on the run seeks to lay low for the rest of his life in Algiers, trying to escape a 20-year prison sentence from the French authorities.

Director: Elias Belkeddar (2023)
Cast: Reda Kateb, Benoît Magimel, and Meriem Amiar
Genre: Crime, Comedy
Awards: 2023 Cannes Film Festival Golden Camera Nominee