LILLE, FRANCE – Feb. 25, 2019 – Following the reveal of the series lineup for the Festival, Ms. Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director of Series Mania (Lille, France, March 22 to 30), announced today the 16 projects selected to be pitched during its professional event, Series Mania Forum (March 25 to 27). Having received almost 400 projects from 41 different countries, the goal of Series Mania Forum is to help these high-end European and International drama projects find potential financial partners.
“Co-Pro Pitching Sessions remain the most highly anticipated event at Series Mania Forum. To date, more than a dozen previously pitched shows have been brought to the screen thanks to coproduction deals or agreements finalized at Series Mania. This year the selection is very diverse, and I hope that it will inspire our participants and our elite team of jury members. We are very proud of the 2019 slate which highlights the very best series of tomorrow,” commented Ms. Herszberg.
For the third consecutive year, a five-member jury will determine the best project among the 16 Co-Pro Pitching Sessions projects and award a grand prize of €50,000 to help develop the winning show.
The 2019 international jury of industry professionals includes:
· JURY PRESIDENT: Meghan Lyvers, SVP Co-Production & Development, CBS Studios International (USA)
· Nathalie Biancolli, Director of Acquisitions & International Fiction, France Télévisions (France)
· Anna Croneman, Head of Programme Film & TV Drama, SVT (Sweden),
· Caroline Torrance, Head of Scripted, Banijay Rights (UK)
· Christian Vesper, EVP & Creative Director for Global Drama, Fremantle (UK)
The following list of selected projects will be pitched by their producers to a panel of potential financiers:
Co-Pro Pitching Sessions – Official Selection (Eligible for Best project prize):
· Capital Punishment, Black Sheep Film Productions, Israel
· Extravagance, Les Films du Trèfle in co-production with AT-Production, Zeitsprung Pictures, France/Belgium/Germany
· Faraya, Déjà Vu Beirut Sarl, Lebanon
· Femen, Wild Horses, France
· Gymnasts, Indigo Film, Italy
· Influence, Studio Lambert, United Kingdom
· Low Season, Akka Films, Switzerland
· Purple, Mother Production in co-production with Silex Films, France
· Reset, Brutal Media, Spain
· Ride Out, Funfar Films Oy, Finland
· The Attack, Network Movie Film, Germany & France
· The Dreamers, Deux Beaux Garçons Films, Israel
· The Fortress, Maipo Film, Norway
· The Kollective, Submarine, Netherlands/USA
· The Rise & Fall of the Somali Pirates, De Mensen in co-production with Reel One Entertainment, Belgium/United Kingdom
And, out of competition, in partnership with CoPro Series of Berlinale Drama Series Days:
· Big Bones, Satel Film in co-production with Superfilm, Austria
For more information on SERIES MANIA FORUM program, please go to:
https://seriesmania.com/en/industry/forum
Register now ahead of the event on March 25 to 27 at Lille Grand Palais, France:
https://seriesmania.com/en/industry/accreditations
ABOUT SERIES MANIA
Created by Laurence Herszberg in 2010 in collaboration with artistic director Frederic Lavigne while both were at the Forum des images, the Series Mania Festival brings the best international series to the big screen and offers audiences (over 55,000 spectators in 2018) the rare opportunity to meet and learn from renowned showrunners, directors and television talent. Series Mania has developed into a unique event with wide recognition that is entirely dedicated to series, aimed at both the general public and industry professionals. For the 2019 edition, from March 22 to 30, the Festival will once again be held in the charming northern French city of Lille (Hauts-de-France). As usual, it will include a program of world premieres and series selected for competition, overseen by a prestigious international jury.
ABOUT SERIES MANIA FORUM
Launched in 2013, Series Mania Forum, the industry arm of the Series Mania Festival, has become the place to be for all those involved in the creation of series from around the world. In just a few years, Series Mania Forum has already seen many projects come to fruition, including Eden, Stella Blomkvist, Keeping Faith and Tabula Rasa, with many others currently in production.
In 2018, the Forum launched the first edition of Lille Transatlantic Dialogues, a one-day summit bringing together high-level political, corporate, creative and economic players from the TV and culture sectors in Europe and North America. With more than 2,000 registered professionals expected in 2019, the Forum is now the place where industry talent and decision-makers meet to create the new generation of serial fiction.
