SERIES MANIA UNVEILS DETAILS FOR THE 2021 FESTIVAL AND FORUM

Rodolphe Belmer, President of Series Mania, and Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director of Series Mania, unveiled details for the upcoming Series Mania Festival set for August 26-September 2 in Lille, France, as well as details for the Series Mania Forum, the industry arm of Series Mania, set for August 30-September 1.

This year, the International competition jury will be chaired by screenwriter, director and producer Hagai Levi (“BeTipul”) who will award the Grand prize for best series, as well as the prizes for best actress and best actor.  Guests of Honor will include Fanny Herrero, Delphine Horvilleur, Tania De Montaigne, Clyde Philipps, Édouard Philippe, Olivier Marchal, Vince Gilligan, and Damon Lindelof. More to be announced later.

The opening series will be the international premiere of “Vigil” from BBC One (UK - 2021). With Suranne Jones, Rose Leslie, Gary Lewis, Paterson Joseph. Production: World Production for BBC, in association with ITV Studios In partnership with ARTE and the new season premieres include “Money Heist”, “Criminal Games – The 70’s”, “Mytho” and “Les Engagés: XAOC”

INNOVATIVES IDEAS

-This year, Series Mania Forum launches the Creative Bazaar, an incubator for unique residencies, workshops and training programmes for writers and producers from all over the world. All the talent taking part in the following three programmes will meet up in one specific space, the Bazaar St So, in Lille, from August 25 to 29.

-The Series Mania Forum will find a privileged space for expression, reserved only for accredited members, on seriesmaniadigital.com with a broadcast - live then in replay - of all the content, events and conferences offered on site.

-The Lille Dialogues bring together European lawmakers and international TV industry leaders for a day-long international trade summit to encourage joint reflection on the challenges facing the TV industry and to promote international cooperation.

-The 2021 edition of Series Mania Forum will be a rich and international program with the return of physical encounters, debates, and a presentation of panels and conferences showing the dynamism of creation in series. The focus will be on creativity and writing, but also on paradigm shifts in the industry, new economic models, and the challenges of ecological transition.Exclusive sessions are confirmed with executives from Netflix, Disney +, Newen, WarnerMedia and Arte.

SELECTED PROJECTS

15 projects were selected as part of the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions at the Series Mania Forum (Aug 30-Sept 1). An international jury of industry professionals will determine the best project and award the Best Project Award  €50,000 to help develop the winning show. "Amal" (8x60'- Israel): Produced by Michael Sharfshtein, Moshe Edery, Eran Riklis for Topia Communications, United King Films,  Eran Riklis Productions; "Gold Train" (6x45'– Germany): Produced by Oliver Damian for 27 Films Production; "Mozart Mozart" (6x45' – Germany): Produced by Andreas Gutzeit and Jens Freels for Story House Pictures GmbH; "Prison Boy" (6x50' – Canada): Produced by Dylan Jenkinson and Jason R. Goode for Hope of Glory Pictures Ltd. dba Jenkinson/Goode Productions; "La Palma" (6x45' – Norway): Produced by Jan Eirik Langøen, Lasse Grevealsos, Martin Sundland for Fante film Fiksjonas; "Liberty’s" (8x52'– France): Produced by Joëy Faré for Scarlett Production /Groupe Mediawan and Cédric Le Gallo for Le Gallo Films; "We Were Legends" (6x52' – France): Produced by Lila Graffin for Birth

Other projects are: "Noble Cause" (6x52'– Ireland, Switzerland): Produced by Mary Callery and Larry Bass for ShinAwiL, Peter Reichenbach for C-Films and Jean-Marc Frohle for Point Prod; "Moresnet": (6x50' – Belgium): Produced by Bert Hamelinck and Helena Vlogaert for Caviar Film and TV / Caviar Content; "Picadero" (6x50'– Spain, Colombia): Produced by Andrea H. Catalá for Amor y Lujo and Juan Diego Villegas for Fidelio Films; "Rabbi" (6x50'– Israel): Produced by Gal Uchovsky, Micky Rabinovitz, Moshe Edery, Ami Glam and “Reshet” for Light Stream, Mazeh Productions, United King Films; "IN 1942" (6x52'– France): Produced by Noor Sadar; "Crude" (8x45'– United-Kingdom): Produced by Angela Gourley for Amber Eye Films; "Error" (8x50'– Iceland, Portugal): Produced by Hordur Runarsson for Glassriver and Jose Amaral for SPI and "Red Rainbow" (8x50'– Russia): Produced by Alexander Rodnyansky for AR Content/Non-Stop Productions.