Series Mania Festival kicked off with a strong opening ceremony on March 18 in Lille, France, and a strong conference lineup that highlights topics not usually discussed at TV trade events, like dubbing, the joy of being independent, and how Europeans approach the showrunner role. The event wraps up with an awards ceremony on March 25.
This year, the International Competition features nine series, including the world premieres of Billy the Kid from EPIX and MGM International Television Productions, Fire Dance from Yes TV, The Birth of Daniel F. Harris from Channel 4, and We Own This City from HBO.
The festival’s jury president is Ukrainian film producer Julia Sinkevych, the Ukrainian film producer and co-founder of the Ukrainian Film Academy, who was able to attend despite the Russian invasion of her country. In addition to Sinkevych, French writer-director Marc Dugain was selected as vice president of the jury, which was rounded out with German actor Christian Berkel, Israeli actress Shira Haas, Turkish creator/director Berkun Oya, and French singer/songwriter Yseult.
Across its eight days, the festival showcased more than 55 series and 30 world premieres. In addition, more than 330 series screened from over 46 territories across six continents. This year’s guest of honor was the British showrunner Michael Hirst, who was also at the festival in promotion of Billy the Kid, which he wrote and executive produced.
The festival programming was supported by Series Mania Forum, the industry arm of the event that ran from March 22 to today, the 24th. The Forum included a lineup of panels and conferences on different subjects, which were organized around five key themes, including sourcing stories, content showcases, creative business inspiration, marketing of series, and innovation. Speakers included Universal International Studios’ Beatrice Springborn, Call My Agent showrunner Fanny Herrero, and Channel 4’s Caroline Hollick, among others.
During the festival, Series Mania entered an agreement with Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA). The strategic alliance will see the co-organization of co-production workshops for project teams to present at Series Mania.
The Forum showed off 16 projects as part of its Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, a yearly staple for industry professionals. The lineup included 15 projects from across the world, including Detective Touré from Spain, The Impossible She from Italy, and Island of Youth from Germany, as well as The Report, the winner from Berlin’s Drama Series Days at the Berlinale. Of the shortlisted projects, the jury selected South African drama Paradys as winner of the Series Mania Best Project Award.
At the Forum, Unifrance also presented five new series as part of the Coming Next from France showcase for foreign buyers. This session highlighted Elle’s Kitchen distributed by Have A Good One, Diane de Poitiers distributed by France tv distribution, 3PU distributed by Mediawan Rights, Marion distributed by Have A Good One, and Vortex distributed by France tv distribution.
It was also announced at the Forum that HBO Max signed on as a founding partner for Series Mania Institute, an initiative dedicated to training professionals interested in European TV series. HBO Max will invest one million U.S. dollars over the next three years.
In addition to the festival and Forum festivities, the fifth edition of Lille Dialogues took place on March 24 under the theme “Empowering the Audiovisual Industry with Creativity.” The one-day summit began with the official opening speech from guest of honor Margrethe Vestager (pictured), European commissioner for Competition and executive vice president for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age.
Organized in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, and the European Commission, the 2022 edition saw panel discussions as well as keynotes with top industry executives. Raffaele Annecchino, president and CEO of International Networks, Studios and Streaming Paramount, gave the keynote on “The World of Paramount International Streaming.”
Additional highlights include keynotes from WarnerMedia’s Priya Dogra, TF1 Group’s Gilles Pélisson, and the session “Investing in Talent: How To Drive New Narratives,” which featured a conversation with France Televisions’ Delphine Ernotte-Cunci, and a panel with Newen Studios’ Romain Bessi, Studio Dragon’s Young-kyu Kim, and The EbonyLife Group’s Mo Abudu. Abudu was also honored with the second annual Woman in Series Award.
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