Today sees the start of the 2021 Série Series festival, taking place both in Fontainebleau and partially online until 3 July. After an exclusively online edition in 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival, which brings together professionals working on European series as well as viewers, returns with “transmission” as the main theme for its tenth edition.

Like every year, the festival will showcase both completed series and projects in development that will soon appear on screens, followed by discussions with their creative teams, revealing the trends currently driving European series production. This year’s edition includes 27 shows (see a detailed list below) hailing from 14 countries, 14 of which have already been completed (five of which will be world-premiered) and 13 are works in progress (six in production, with hitherto unseen excerpts, and seven at the writing stage).

Distributors such as Netflix, TF1 and Canal+ will also discuss their recent work and introduce their upcoming series, truly turning the gathering’s focus towards the future. However, the most outstanding shows of 2020 will also be put in the spotlight to give them the attention they deserved but hardly got last year, with “flashback” screenings of Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You [+lee también:
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ficha de la serie], Steve McQueen’s Small Axe - Red, White and Blue, Russell T Davies’ It's a Sin and the third season of Shtisel, by Ori Elon and Yehonatan Indursky, followed by case studies with the production teams deconstructing their work.

Under the direction of managing director Marie Barraco, the festival this year is doubling down on the advantages of in-person meetings with even more exclusive live events, in line with the idea of creative exchange between viewers and creators. Open-air, immersive screenings will take place every night in and around Fontainebleau, starting with two episodes of Leonardo, a biopic about da Vinci by Frank Spotnitz and Steve Thompson, followed by two episodes of the Swedish series A Royal Secret by Bengt Braskered, and finally, two episodes of the second season of Frédéric Garcia’s teen superhero Netflix show Mortel, screened in the Fontainebleau forest itself.

Making the event even more public-orientated is an exhibition already in place in the streets of Fontainebleau presenting on-set stills taken by photographer Caroline Dubois during the shoots for the French shows Ils étaient dix, Engrenages, Agatha Christie's Criminal Games and Art of Crime.

This year’s master classes will first see Israeli-American screenwriter, author and producer Ron Leshem discuss his work on shows such as Euphoria (both its original Israeli version and its recent US adaptation) as well as No Man’s Land and Valley of Tears. On 1 July, Ita O’Brien will discuss her pioneering work as intimacy coordinator, a role that is increasingly recognised in the post-#MeToo era as essential for safe productions. Next, Steve Matthews, VP executive producer of Drama Development at HBO Europe, will share his experience in the booming European series sector, looking at the examples of the Spanish show Foodie Love [+lee también:
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ficha de la serie] and the Czech production The Sleepers. Also taking part in a One Vision talk will be screenwriter, director and producer Bisha K Ali, who will explain her vision of diversity and of the sharing of knowledge, in line with the edition’s motto.

Several panel discussions are also on the programme. The tradition of collaboration between France and Spain, France’s potential for creating compelling historical dramas, and how the independent sector can negotiate with the big US streamers are all topics of discussion for these many debates, bringing together countless professionals from all over Europe. In addition to these, a special series of conversations entitled “women’s dialogues” will be held at the Rosa Bonheur castle every day at tea time. Each meeting will bring together two women professionals who will discuss their trajectories and their eventual collaboration on various series. Every afternoon, the public will also be able to attend a live recording of the Série Series Podcast, where French series professionals who have worked on the most remarkable shows of the past ten years will gather and discuss their careers and perspectives on the industry.

The festival will also present nine trailers for series currently in development and looking for financial backers.

Lastly, children will also get to discover the world of series with Série Series Kids, the festival running parallel to the main event and focusing this year on the French productions Simon and The Mysterious Cities of Gold, in its last season.

Here is the full list of series:

Screenings and Case Studies

Shtisel (season 3) (yes TV, Abot Hameiri - Israel)
Snow Angels (Yellow Bird, Happy Ending Film - Sweden)
Bad Apples (Fire Monkey - Finland)
Leonardo (co-produced by Lux Vide and Sony Pictures Television in collaboration with Rai Fiction, Big Light Productions, in association with France Télévisions, RTVE and Alfresco Pictures - Italy/France/Spain)
Journey (Glassriver - Iceland)
Container (START - Russia)
I May Destroy You [+lee también:
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ficha de la serie] (Various Artists Ltd and FALKNA Productions - UK)
Lucky Day (Idip Films, Perpetual Soup - Switzerland)
A Royal Secret (StellaNova Film - Sweden)
Cargo (Fremantle Finland - Finland)
Me and the Others (Superfilm Filmproduktions GmbH - Austria)
Small Axe - Red, White and Blue (Turbine Studios Limited, Lammas Park Limited - UK)
Mortel (season 2) (Mandarin Television - France)
It's a Sin (RED Production Company (a STUDIOCANAL company) in association with All3Media International - UK)

Work in Progress

The Age of Anger [+lee también:
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ficha de la serie] (Atresmedia TV, The Mediapro Studio - Spain)
Black Sands [+lee también:
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ficha de la serie] (Glassriver - Iceland)
The Astronaut (Fire Monkey - Finland)
Survivors (Rai Fiction, Rodeo Drive, France Télévisions, Cinétévé, ZDFneo - Italy/France/Germany)
Lusitânia (Take It Easy Films - Portugal)
Who Shot Otto Mueller? (Cuba Films - Estonia)
Aspergirl (PATAFILM - France)
Dough (Nexiko, Inland - Sweden)
Transport (Tekele Productions, co-produced by jonnydepony - Finland/Belgium)
The Island of Thirty Coffins (Thalie Images - France)
506 Grams of Ural Snow (Aito Media - Finland)
Saturday Society (Aito Media - Finland)
Diana Boss (LA BELLE TÉLÉ, Radio France - France)