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SÉRIES MANIA 2019

Séries Mania steps on the gas again

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- A slew of world premieres and big industry names are lined up for the tenth edition of the festival, which will unspool in Lille from 22-30 March

Séries Mania steps on the gas again
The French series Mytho

Tomorrow, Friday 22 March, the US series The Red Line will open the tenth Séries Mania festival, which relocated from Paris to Lille in 2018 and which has decided to bring forward its dates by a whole month this year (wrapping on 30 March), pulling the rug out from under its rival CannesSeries (the second edition of which is being held from 5-10 April 2019). France is therefore pressing on with this battle worthy of Clochemerle, with two international gatherings going head to head, the authorities having plumped for Lille following a call for applications and Cannes having decided to go it alone in order to add a string to MIPTV’s bow (the market taking place from 8-11 April), an event whose radiant aura was already starting to grow dim.

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Surfing the wave of Séries Mania’s very strong reputation and that of its experienced team (with Laurence Herszberg serving as general manager and Frédéric Lavigne as artistic director), the Lille-based gathering presided over by Rodolphe Belmer got off to a flying start last year (56,000 viewers and 2,000 industry professionals on the clock) and is still gathering speed with a 2019 programme that includes 70 series and guests of honour, such as US actress Uma Thurman, British thesp Freddie Highmore and his fellow countryman and -woman Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones (producers), who will all lead master classes, plus French director Éric Rochant (The Bureau) and British screenwriter Hugo Blick.

Ten as-yet unaired series (nine of which will be having their world premieres) are being showcased in the international competition, which will be judged by a jury chaired by the USA’s Marti Noxon (flanked by actresses Julianna Margulies and Audrey Fleurot, novelist Delphine de Vigan and director Thomas Lilti). Standing out among the European representatives are Mytho, directed by France’s Fabrice Gobert (broadcasters: Arte and Netflix), the Norwegian production Twin (broadcaster: NRK), the French-German co-production Eden, directed by Dominik Moll (broadcasters: SWR/ARD and Arte) and three British titles staged by Channel 4: Baghdad CentralChimerica and The Virtues (helmed by Shane Meadows). They will be locking horns with Russian, Israeli, Australian and US series (Chambers for Netflix).

Six series set to enjoy their world premieres will feature on the line-up of the French competition: Une île (broadcasters: Arte and Amazon), Osmosis (Netflix), Soupçons (France 3), Family Shake (M6) and two for France 2: The Last Wave and Super Jimmy.

The International Panorama section is bursting with 15 series, including Croatia’s Success (directed by Bosnia’s Danis Tanovic), Germany’s 8 Days, Denmark’s Pros and Cons, Norway’s Exit, Spain’s Hierro (co-produced by France) and five British titles: Les Misérables, Flack, Curfew, Motherfatherson and The Cry.

Also standing out on the festival’s jam-packed programme are a competition for short-format titles, “Best of USA”, all-night screenings (one of which is dedicated to comedies, including the Spanish series Arde Madrid and the UK’s Hang Ups), special screenings, projections of cult series and so on. 

However, all eyes will also obviously be on the Series Mania Forum professional sidebar (25-27 March, headed up by Francesco Capurro) with its co-production market, which has selected 16 projects in development for its Co-Pro Pitching Sessions. This year’s edition will also feature VR Pitching Sessions, the UGC Writers Campus and the SeriesLab (in partnership with TorinoFilmLab). And that’s not to mention the eagerly awaited Lille Transatlantic Dialogues on 27 March, with keynote speeches by Ted Sarandos (Netflix), Charles Rivkin (MPAA), Lorenzo de Maio (Endeavor Content), Georgia Brown (Amazon Studios), Gilles Pélisson (TF1), Nicolas de Tavernost (M6) and Dephine Ernotte-Cunci (France Télévisions), a closing speech by French Culture Minister Franck Riester, a panel on the relationship between auteurs and platforms, and a round-table on how production is evolving and the international market concentration (which will involve representatives of ITV Studios, Fremantle and Beta Film, as well as a number of independent producers).

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(Translated from French)

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