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Festival showcase for Maximum Choppage

Matchbox Pictures’ 6-part ABC2 comedy series Maximum Choppage has been selected to screen in the Professional Window section of the 2015 Series Mania in Paris this April.

The Series Mania festival offers a big-screen showcase for small-screen treasures from current and future productions from around the world.

The Professional Window, showcases the best of contemporary drama to prospective French and European buyers. Maximum Choppage follows in the footsteps of premium Australian show’s that have previously screened at the festival including The Slap, Puberty Blues, Please Like Me and A Moody Christmas.

Maximum Choppage stars Lawrence Leung and is Australia’s first kung fu comedy. Set in a fictionalised version of the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta it takes various historical truths about the area and familiar Asian motifs and subverts them, giving them a unique, comic based spin.

The series tells the story of Simon Chan (Leung) who has returned home after many years training in a martial arts temple in Beijing. He is a born hero, defender of the weak and champion of the honest people of Cabramatta… Well, not really. The truth is Simon was at Marshall’s Art School, in Melbourne, but he’d rather fake being a kung fu warrior than disappoint his mother. So, with the help of his best friends Petal (Stephanie Son) and Egg (Dave Eastgate) he must defend the town against mortal enemies including a local gang with a karaoke obsession; an illegal fish fighting syndicate; and a violent K Pop band. Cabramatta needed a hero. Instead, they got Simon, Petal and Egg.

The show's Executive Producer Tony Ayres said, “We are immensely proud of Maximum Choppage – with a 90% Asian cast it is TV like Australia has never seen before. We hope with this exposure other countries around the world can see Australia in this light too.”

ABC TV’s Head of Comedy Rick Kalowski said, “We are delighted that this hilarious and totally unique comedy series will be screening at the prestigious television festival Series Mania. We can’t wait to see what the European cultural elite make of kung fu smack downs, horny duck inspired chaos and K-pop dance battles.”

Maximum Choppage is playing on ABC2. See the next episode on ABC2 tonight at 9 or catch up on ABC iview.

Directed by Craig Melville. Written by Lawrence Leung, Duncan Sarkies and Josh Mapleston. Produced by Julie Eckersley, Sophie Miller and Linda Micsko. Executive Producers: Tony Ayres and Debbie Lee. Executive Producers for ABC TV are Rick Kalowski and Brett Sleigh.