The 15 initiatives competing at this 12 months’s Series Mania Co-Pro Pitching Sessions have been unveiled.
Shows from the likes of Denmark’s Zentropa, Australia’s Wooden Horse and Israel’s Sipur will combat for a €50,000 ($53,000) growth prize, chosen by a jury headed up by President M-Okay Kennedy, Executive Managing Director of TV Series at Studiocanal within the UK.
A sixteenth undertaking, U.S.-Germany co-pro Ruth’s Ghosts, has been chosen however is not going to compete for the grand prize.
Series Mania famous that the 15 initiatives have been chosen from 406 purposes from 72 international locations, with new territories equivalent to New Zealand, The Philippines, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Uganda and Eswatini getting into.
Joining Studiocanal’s Kennedy on the jury are André Béraud, Head of Scripted, Programs and Feature Films, ICI Radio-Canada Télé (Canada); Henriette Marienlund, Head of Drama, DR Drama (Denmark); José Pastor, Head Of Drama And Fiction, RTVE (Spain); and Frank Seyberth, Head of Coproduction, International Fiction, ZDF (Germany).
“The Co-Pro Pitching Sessions are always a highlight of the Forum given their goal of helping high-end European and International drama projects find potential financial partners,” mentioned Laurence Herszberg, Founder and General Director of Series Mania. “Since inception in 2013, we have seen great success with these pitches, and it is certain to continue this year given our stellar lineup of tiles from around the world. We look forward to welcoming our esteemed jury to Lille and awarding the winner of the Best Project Award with €50,000.”
Shows equivalent to No Man’s Land (France), Banking District (Switzerland), Keeping Faith (Great Britain), Manor House (Czech Republic), Stella Blomkvist (Iceland), Tabula Rasa (Belgium), Warrior (Denmark), Devils (Italy), The Head (Spain), The Last Socialist Artefact (Slovenia, Finland) and We Got This (Sweden) have been all pitched within the competitors over time.
Francesco Capurro, Director of Series Mania Forum, mentioned: “In the Post Peak-TV era, co-financing is more crucial than ever. It’s the key to securing higher budgets, boosting sales, and staying competitive on the global stage. This year’s selection includes many thrillers along with comedies, dramadies and horror with colorful themes ranging from racing pigeons, creepy insects, an unorthodox chaplain, and a revolutionary knitting collective to more traditional subjects such as abductions, murders and troubled past.”
Series Mania runs from March 21-28 in Lille, France.
FULL RUNDOW OF PROJECTS
ANTIPAROS – 6 x 45′ – Greece
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Produced by Dionyssis Samiotis, Development Producer Alexandra Orfanidou, for Tanweer Productions, Co – Producer Mark Denessen, for Ginger Film Flanders (Belgium)
Written by Alexandros Tsilifonis and George Zafeiropoulos
Directed by Alexandros Tsilifonis
Short synopsis: An overworked detective returns to his hometown within the island of Antiparos for a much-needed vacation. But as soon as there, an excessively regulation – abiding British policewoman drags him deep down into the mysterious disappearance of a overseas billionaire, and probably the most sophisticated case of murders in his whole profession.
CECILIE MARS – 6 x 45′ – Denmark
Genre: Thriller
Produced by Karoline Leth for Zentropa
Written and directed by Christoffer Boe
Short synopsis: In her pursuit of justice, Cecilie Mars, a courageous police officer, faces an ethical
dilemma that pushes her past the confines of the regulation. She embarks on a treacherous path to combat evil.
CONSULTANTS – 6 x 45′ – Germany
Genre: Political thriller
Produced by Alexis von Wittgenstein and Gilda Weller for Violet Pictures and Henning Kamm for Real Film Berlin
Written by Richard Kropf, Bob Conrad, Hanno Hackfort
Short synopsis: Carlo, a younger political campaigner from Berlin, believes he’s landed the job of a lifetime: working at one of many world’s largest technique businesses, he’s a part of a digital marketing campaign opposing a neo-fascist get together. He sees himself as one of many good guys—till the day he discovers he’s merely a pawn in a plot of unimaginable scale.
HEIST – 6 x 60′ – Belgium, France
Genre: Action thriller
Produced by Dries Phylpo for A Private View and Antoine Simkine for Les Films d’Antoine
Written by Ben Braeunlich
Short synopsis: Beirut, 1976. The civil warfare holds the Lebanese capital captive. And right here, amid all this terror, the largest financial institution theft of all occasions is about to go down.
INTIMACY – 8 x 42′ – UK/Israel
Genre: Thriller
Produced by Ariel Weisbrod for Sipur
Created by: Dan Berlinka, Maude Sandham, Dan Buckland
Written by: Dan Berlinka
Short synopsis: Sex scene, loss of life scene, crime scene. When an actress is discovered lifeless on set, the intimacy co-ordinator feels compelled to research, which suggests taking up the lifeless girl’s position… in additional methods than one.
INVISIBLE – 6 x 45’ – Ireland
Genre: Mystery Drama
Produced by Ciarán Charles, Darach Ó Tuairisg & Bernadette Hoban
Written by Matt Harvey & Marteinn Thorisson
Short synopsis: A lady nobody respects. A person nobody believes. Against the law solely they’ll remedy.
MASQUERADE – 8 x 55′ – Iceland
Genre: Crime/Thriller
Produced by Arnbjörg Hafliðadóttir for Glassriver, contact Andri Ómarsson
Created by Andri Óttarsson & Baldvin Z
Short synopsis: A younger American reporter arrives in a small Icelandic village, investigating an outdated unsolved abduction case of a four-year-old woman—the granddaughter of the city’s most rich and highly effective man—who vanished whereas on trip in Florida 25 years in the past. As she digs deeper, she begins to unravel the village’s darkest secrets and techniques, solely to understand that these chargeable for the kidnapping are most likely nonetheless dwelling within the village.
NEST – 8 x 60′ – Belgium, United Kingdom, Taiwan
Genre: Flamboyant Crime Comedy
Produced by David Vermander for Cartouche, Anouk Mertens for Neo Studios and James Chia-Hao for Reel Asia Picture
Written by Koen Van Sande, Sven Huybrechts, Daniel Lambo and Lai Kin Chang
Short synopsis: When an enthralling charlatan and her intellectually challenged brother inherit a promising racing pigeon, they’re thrust right into a lethal recreation with the ruthless Taiwanese playing mafia.
NUCLEAR SUNSET CRUISE – 4 x 45′ – Germany
Genre: Dramedy
Produced by Martin Lehwald, Marcos Kantis, Philipp Goeser for Schiwago Film
Written by Robert Krause and Florian Puchert
Short synopsis: A clueless East German cruise ship by chance sails straight into the Cuban Missile Crisis. With nuclear warfare looming and deck chair battles raging, the actual query is: can they survive one another?
PHENOMENA – THE SERIES – 8 x 50′ – Italy
Genre: Horror/Soapy teen drama
Produced by Maria Grazia Saccà for Titanus Production
Written by Nicola Guaglianone and Menotti
Short synopsis: Jennifer Corvino, an American scholar at a fencing academy within the glamorous Dolomites, hides her psychic hyperlink with bugs. When brutal murders strike, she should discover ways to use her secret energy to cease the killer, save her comrades and survive.
Series Mania Co-Pro Pitching Sessions
THE CHAPLAIN – 8 x 30′ – Australia
Genre: Drama
Co-created and Produced by Jude Troy for Wooden Horse
Co-created and Written by Elise McCredie
Short synopsis: Airport Chaplain Tobias Wallace has a continually ringing cellular, a drawer full of money, and a decidedly unorthodox strategy to fixing the day by day crises of an airport. When new administration threatens to terminate his contract, Tobias devises more and more ingenious methods to maintain his beloved chaplaincy – in any case, it’s the one factor maintaining his submerged demons at bay.
THE INSTITUTE – 6 x 50′ – Germany, Denmark
Genre: Thriller
Produced by Irina Ignatiew-Lemke for Boxworks Media and Deborah Bayer Marlow for Nordisk Film Productions
Created by: Esther Gronenborn
Written by Esther Gronenborn and Astrid Ströher
Short synopsis: The mysterious loss of life of a PhD scholar attracts a superb scientist right into a lethal internet of deceit and intrigue, exposing the darkish facet of energy and equality within the educational world.
THE LOTTERY TICKET – 6 x 50′ – Spain
Genre: Dramedy
Produced by Secuoya Studios
Written by Carlos Villa
Short synopsis: Julia’s fiftieth birthday turns chaotic as she reveals her terminal most cancers, reconnects along with her adopted daughter, and a successful lottery ticket sparks a battle, unearthing outdated wounds and buried secrets and techniques.
TOKYO CRUSH – 8 x 30′ – France, Japan
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Produced by Jonas Ben Haiem and Jean-Félix Dealberto for Salle Commune, and Hiroko Oda for Flag Inc.
Written by Clémence Dargent
Short synopsis: Mona, a daring Parisian chef, is employed to reinvent a struggling Tokyo izakaya – if solely Toshiro, the gifted (and annoyingly good-looking) grandson of the founder, would let her.
WOOL – 6 x 50′ – Serbia, Iceland
Genre: Drama
Produced by Milena Dzambasovic for Film Road Production, Jonas Margeir Ingolfsson & Milla Ósk for Act4, Danna Stern for In Transit Productions
Written by Milena Dzambasovic (creator), Mladen Maticevic, Birkir Blaer Ingolfsson and Milla Ósk Short synopsis: In Sixties Yugoslavia, a girl transforms a village by uniting housewives right into a knitting collective. Their designs catch world trend consideration, revolutionizing their rural lives.
The sixteenth undertaking, introduced on February 18 throughout the Berlinale’s Co-Pro Series occasion
RUTH’S GHOSTS – 6 x 60’ – US, Germany
Genre: Legal thriller with supernatural parts
Produced by Jennifer Fox for A Luminous Mind Production, Tara Grace for Temair Pictures and Jana Lotze for Oma Inge Film.
Written by Jennifer Fox