Abdelkrim Branine, the author of the novel “Le Petit Sultan”, accuses Canal + and Amazon of plagiarism

“There are too many similarities, too many resemblances.” This cry of indignation, which throws a big wrench into the pond of 100% original fiction created by Canal + and feature films broadcast on Amazon Prime, comes from the writer and journalist Abdelkrim Branine, after watching the series “La Fièvre » and the film “Number 10”.

For the well-inspired author of “Little Sultan”, published in 2022 by Zellig, a very successful first social novel which takes the reader into the world of football, the mysteries of which he knows perfectly, in the footsteps of his Franco hero. -Algerian, the young and talented Yougerten Mokrani, but whose scope goes far beyond the green lawns, there is no room for doubt: he is the victim of double plagiarism!

In an interview given to the site Watson, Abdelkrim Branine, who, in a previous life, served as editor-in-chief of Beur FM radio, says this, dismayed:

“We noted more than twenty similarities between “Number 10” and my novel “The Little Sultan”.”

And to cite five among the most edifying listed in the “formal notice for copyright infringement” which he sent, on February 14, through his lawyer, to Marvelous Productions, the producer of “Number 10”:

A fake newspaper headline The Team“The Little Prince”, is very close to the title of the novel, “The Little Sultan”;
The main character, Ousmane, binational Franco-Senegalese in the film, Yougerten, binational Franco-Algerian in the novel, is betrayed by someone very close to him;
An account attributed to the fascist sphere targets Ousmane through his father. In the novel, the fascist targets the hero with very similar terms and methods;
Ousmane's father talks about his resentment towards France, the racism he suffered. In the novel, the hero's father evokes his past through the humiliations suffered by his father and other North African workers.
A heavy-handed arrest by the police following a misunderstanding about the car they are driving, as with the character in the novel and his teammates. We find the same feelings of frustration among the police when faced with a millionaire footballer. Etc.

While Canal +, which is not currently the subject of any procedure by Abdelkrim Branine, remains silent, Watson's article specifies: “ For their part, the producers of Marvelous Productions, ex-bosses of Pathé, very heavy in French cinema, defend themselves against any “counterfeiting” or “reproduction” of the book “Le Petit Sultan”, of which they claim not to have had knowledge. They assimilate the “alleged covers” listed by the novelist and his publisher Zellige to “general elements” that the latter “could not appropriate”.

Their main argument is that of the date of submission of the scenario of “Number 10” to the Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers, the organization which guarantees the intellectual property of the works: September 16, 2019. The book appeared two and a half years later late.

Abdelkrim Branine objects: “This argument is questionable. Indeed, for my part, I finished my book at the end of 2018 and I sent it in January 2019 to around forty publishing houses, including Albin Michel and Flammarion. It is entirely possible and plausible that the producers of “Number 10” were aware of the content of the manuscript that I had sent to many publishers.”

Behind the cry of indignation uttered by the wounded author of the romantic work, strikingly realistic, “The Little Sultan”, his cry from the heart is very perceptibly mixed: “I want my book to be given the place it deserves. This novel, “The Little Sultan”, is the culmination of an expertise developed since the beginning of the 2000s. I refuse to see people who have no expertise in these subjects appropriate my work.”

An excellent work, a fascinating social painting born under a fertile pen, whose Oumma editorial team recommended you and recommends you more than ever to read.

“Le Petit Sultan”, a social novel in the world of football absolutely worth discovering!