This year, Lille, France will welcome the return of an in-person Series Mania International Festival, to be held August 26-September 2, 2021.
The festival, which focuses on development, production, and new series, will open with the international premiere of Vigil from BBC One. The festival programming will highlight a slew of new series, with new season premieres of Money Heist, Criminal Games – The 70’s, Mytho, and Les Engages: XAOC.
The trade arm of the event, Series Mania Forum, which will be held August 30-September 1, will welcome in-person meetings as well as a conference agenda of panels and discussions on paradigm shifts in the industry, new economic models, and the challenges of ecological transition.
This year, the Forum will feature the Forum Exclusives programming, comprised of 21 series representing 19 countries, with seven world premieres. The selection will be shown at the on-site screening room and available through Series Mania Digital, the online component of the festival.
The Forum will also showcase 15 projects selected as part of the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, which awarded 50,000 euro (U.S. $60,000) to the best drama project. Entertainment One’s Polly Williams will serve as the jury president for the pitching sessions.
New this year will be the Creative Bazaar, an incubator for workshops and training programs for writers and producers. Special guests include scriptwriter and producer Chris Brancato and showrunner Clyde Phillips, among others.
The newly created Series Mania Étoile Award celebrates singer and actor Audra McDonald, who will be in Lille for her new series The Bite, distributed by ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group.
Lille Dialogues, a one-day summit that brings together European lawmakers and international TV industry leaders, will take place on August 31, 2021. Organized in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, CNC, and European Commission, the event will include a rich program of conferences and keynote presentations, with executives from Banijay, The Walt Disney Company, TF1 Group, and SVT, among others.
(By Luis Polanco)
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