25/03/2024 - Europe also dazzled thanks to The Banker and the Bomb, claiming Best Screenplay, while Dates in Real Life dominated the International Panorama and Soviet Jeans won the Audience Award

Bruno Nahon (producer of Rematch) and Yan England (creator and director of Rematch) with their award (© Olivier Vigerie)

Closing to an incredibly impressive outcome of over 98,000 festival participants (up 15% on 2023) and 4,200 professionals from 72 countries having attended the Forum, the Series Mania Festival has unveiled its winners (after revealing the victors of its Co-Pro Pitching Sessions – read our news – and of Seriesmakers - article).

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In the International Competition, the jury led by American talent Zal Batmanglij (flanked by Bérénice Bejo, Charlotte Brändström, Malick Bauer and Sofiane Zermani) awarded its Grand Prize to the French-Hungarian production Rematch, a psychological thriller about the historic New York-based head-to-head in 1997 between the best chess player of all time Garry Kasparov, and IBM’s super computer Deep Blue.

Standing tall in the cast are English actor Christian Cooke, Ireland’s Sarah Bolger, Brits Tom Austen, Orion Lee and Molly Harris, Denmark’s Trine Dyrholm and American Aidan Quinn. Created and produced by Bruno Nahon on behalf of Parisian firm Unité, this 6 x 52-minute English-language series is directed by Canadian Yan England (who also co-created the work and co-wrote the screenplay), with fellow Canadian André Gulluni likewise credited for the series’ creation and screenplay. Partners include Arte France, Fédération Studios (who are also steering international sales) and Hungary’s Proton. A fascinating debate (full details here) also formed part of the Series Mania Forum, exploring the surprising journey (and notably the funding) of this locally managed international project.

The prize for Best Screenplay, meanwhile, went to Thomas Wendrich for the German production Herrhausen – The Banker and the Bomb, a biopic thriller charting the rise of a visionary banker in the 1980s, when Germany was divided into East and West. Produced for ARD by Sperl Film - Und Fernsehproduktion, X-Filme Creative Pool, Beside Productions and Avriofilms, this 4 x 50-minute series directed by Pia Strietmann is sold by Fremantle.

For their part, the festival’s acting awards were won by Annette Bening for her performance in the 7 x 60-minute Australian-American-British work Apples Never Fall (steered by Heyday Films, Universal’s English subsidiary) and Palestine’s Kamel El Basha for the 6 x 60-minute Australian series House of Gods.

In the International Panorama section, meanwhile, the award for Best Series went to the 7 x 25-minute Norwegian work Dates in Real Life [+see also:
series review
series profile], created, written and directed by Jakob Rørvik (produced by Maipo Film for NRK and sold by Dynamic Television), while Best Director was won by Spanish helmers Javier Ambrosi and Javier Calvo for La mesías [+see also:
series review
trailer
series profile] (a 7 x 60-minute series produced by Movistar Plus+ - who are also steering sales - and Max Latam). Latvia’s Kārlis Arnolds Avots triumphed as Best Actor by way of the 8 x 55-minute series Soviet Jeans [+see also:
series review
series profile] (produced by Tasse Film and sold by Germany’s Beta Film), which also walked away with the Audience Award.

Last but not least, within the French Competition, victory smiled upon Machine, a 6 x 48-minute series produced by 687, F.I.T Production, White Lion Films (belonging to the Mediawan group, who are also overseeing sales) and Arte France, which is created by Thomas Bidegain and Fred Grivois.

The full list of winners is as follows:

International Competition

Grand Prize
Rematch (France/Hungary - ARTE)

Best Writing
Thomas Wendrich - Herrhausen – The Banker and the Bomb (Germany - ARD)

Best Actress
Annette Benning - Apples Never Fall (USA/Australia/UK - Peacock)

Best Actor
Kamel El Basha - House of Gods (Australia - ABC TV)

International Panorama

Best Series
Dates in Real Life [+see also:
series review
series profile] (Norway - NRK)

Best Director
Javier Ambrosi and Javier Calvo - La mesías [+see also:
series review
trailer
series profile] (Spain - Movistar Plus+, HBO Max Latam)

Best Actress
Robyn Malcolm - After the Party (Australia/New Zealand - TVNZ, ABC)

Best Actor
Kārlis Arnolds Avots - Soviet Jeans [+see also:
series review
series profile] (Latvia - GO3)

Student Prize
La mesías

French Competition

Best Series
Machine (ARTE)

Best Actress
Tiphaine Daviot - Murder Club (M6)

Best Actor
Jérémy Gillet - Une amitié dangereuse (France 2)

Best Original Score
Julie Roué - Le monde n'existe pas (ARTE)

Comedy Competition

Best Short Format Series
Ceux qui rougissent (France/Switzerland)

Hauts-de-France Region High Schoolers Award
Videoland (Australia)

Audience Award
Soviet Jeans

(Translated from French)