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Series Mania announces festival winners and final numbers of participants

Series Mania announces festival winners and final numbers of participants

The 2023 edition of the international TV festival Series Mania has come to an end on Friday, March 24. This year marked one of its highest competitions ever, with record attendance numbers for both the Series Mania Festival and the Series Mania Forum. During the closing event, Ms. Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director of Series Mania, commented “We would first like to thank the public and the professionals who attended this edition, which brought together more than 85,000 participants for the Festival and 3,800 participants from 64 countries for the Forum”.

On the closing evening, Ms. Herszberg also announced the winners of the many categories taken into consideration during the one-week Festival.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

The international jury chaired by Lisa Joy with Emmanuelle Béart, Anurag Kashyap, Chris Chibnall, Judah Levi, and Lou Doillon awarded four prizes among the nine series presented in world or international premiere during the festival. The Grand Prize went to Iranian dramedy The Actor, the Best Writing award was given to John Kâre Raake for Norwegian dystopian drama The Fortress, Margot Bancilhon won as Best Actress for her role in French thriller Haven of Grace, while Michael Sheen was awarded as Best Actor in British drama series Best Interests.

INTERNATIONAL PANORAMA

The International Panorama jury, formed by Hervé Le Tellier, Lone Korslund, Assa Sylla, Hugo Bardin, Jandiz Cardoso, and Lila Byock, awarded four prizes among the twelve series presented in French, European, and world premiere. Swedish thriller Blackwater was awarded the Best Series prize, the Best Directing award went to Ernesto Contreras for Mexican drama Tengo que morir todas las noches, Rotem Sela and Gal Malka tied for the Best Actress award for Israeli drama series A Body That Works, and Eran Naim won the Best Actor category for his role in German-Israeli drama Innermost. Lastly, there was an additional award to assign: the Student award for Best Series, which went to British dramedy Funny Woman.

FRENCH COMPETITION

An international jury presided over by Ariana Finos, with Enric Albero, Hanna Huge, Adrian Hennigan, and Ashanti Omkar awarded four prizes among the six French series in competition, presented in world premiere during the festival. The Best Series prize was awarded to political comedy Under Control, Clémentine Célarié was decreed Best Actress for playing in dramedy Six Women, while Carel Brown received the Best Actor award for his part in dramedy Aspergirl. Maud Geffray and Rebeka Warrior won the Best Original Score award for drama series Split.

SHORT FORMS COMPETITION

The international jury composed of Sam Shaw, Madison Walsh, Jérémy Gillet and Charlotte Abramow awarded the Best Series prize to Spanish YA dramedy Autodefensa, among the eight contestants of this competition. The series, written and created by Berta Prieto, Belén Barenys and Miguel Ángel Blanca, portrays the concerns and feelings of a generation that is still on the look for its identity: the Gen Z.

COMEDY COMPETITION

The French series Rictus was awarded Best Series among the six comedies in this category by a jury composed of high school students of the Hauts-de-France. The comedy series written and created by Arnaud Malherbe and Marion Festraëts revolves around Steph, a diligent employee who is hunted down by the anti-laughter police after being suspected of being too funny, in a world where laughter is prohibited.

PUBLIC AWARD

Finally, Ms. Herszberg announced the TV series among all the titles in competition (except for those of the Short Forms’ category) which was decreed Best Series by the festival’s audience, who voted their favorite TV show at the end of the screenings: the prize was awarded to Canadian drama Little Bird, which addresses Canada’s “1960s scoop”, a cruel controversy in which the government forcibly removed Indigenous children from their families without a warning. 

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