After two postponements and an edition organized exceptionally at the end of August due to the pandemic, return to spring for the 4th edition in the capital of Flanders! Series Mania, the Lille/Hauts-de-France international series festival, will return from March 18 to 25 in Lille and its region and Series Mania Forum (for professionals) from March 22 to 24. “Two festivals in six months in times of Covid, it’s really stiff”, greeted the director general of the festival Laurence Herzberg, who announced the guests and the series selected this Thursday during a press conference at the UGC. Cinema City of Lille. We will have to wait until March 1 to have all the details of the program, and prepare to book the sessions for free when the ticket office opens on March 8.
This year, it’s not one but three posters who will promote the event which welcomed more than 54,000 spectators during the last edition on which two faces are superimposed, one male, the other female, i.e. six emblematic characters from series: Malotru (Matthieu Kassovitz) from Legends Office and June (Elisabeth Moss) of Handmaid’s Tale, Andrea Martel (Camille Cottin) from Ten percent and Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) of Peaky BlindersJosephine Karlsson (Audrey Fleurot) for gears and Luther (Idris Elba) of Luther.
58 series, including 30 world premieres
To develop this program, the Série Mania teams watched 331 series from 46 countries over the three months. They selected 58 series, including 30 world premieres. This year again, the series and meetings will be available online.
New for this edition, the Vidocq prize, launched by the Prefecture of the Hauts-de-France and North region, saluting the best French police series of the year, will be awarded for the first time in public at the Tripostal in Lille.
French actress Cécile de France, Turkish playwright, theater director and director Berkun Oya, German actor Christian Berkel, Israeli actress Shira Haas, and French singer Yseult will be part of the jury for the international competition. Series Mania makes the suspense last, the president of this jury will be revealed very soon.
Anne Berest, novelist and creator of the excellent Arte series mythwill chair the jury of the international panorama, 100% female, alongside Sofia Essaïdi, Sophie Deraspe and Roni Alter.
Political and societal series in the foreground
In terms of trends, political series are making a comeback with We Own This Citythe highly anticipated new series from the creator of TheWireDavid Simon, Oussekinethe Disney+ series which will return to the Malik Oussekine affair and the CSO series Sentinels on Operation Barkhane in Mali.
The series also return to current issues: the ecological disaster with Turbia (Colombia), the integration of immigrants with Outlaw (Denmark), the work of Internet content moderators with I am not a robot (Quebec). And of course, the series also return to the pandemic like season 2 ofIn Therapythe American series Station Elevenor the German Sunshine Eyes on containment.
In international competition, two series will represent France, The world of tomorrowthe Arte series that looks back on the genesis of NTM, and Sentinelsbreathtaking dive on the ground of operation in Mali.
In French competition, are selected Tender Flesh (FranceTV.slash), Out of season (France 2/RTS), The Black Butterflies (Arte/Netflix), E-syndrome (TF1), Success (FranceTV.slash) and doggie (OCS). Twelve series from around the world will be presented in the international panorama section
Eight series with episodes of less than twenty minutes, presented exclusively and revealing the talents of tomorrow, will form the selection of short formats. Series Mania is also returning to its night of comedies.
Several new episodes of current series will be presented in preview. Thus, there will be an HPI evening (biggest serial success in recent years on TF1 and tour in the North), in the presence of Audrey Fleurot and Mehdi Nebbou. Festival-goers will be able to discover never-before-seen episodes of Bridgerton Chroniclesthe box of Shonda Rhimes on Netflix, ofIn Therapythe success of Arte, in the presence of shrink Frédéric Pierrot, ofAtlantaof The Opera and of Doctor.
The new series of the creator of “Ten percent” in opening
Michael Hirst, creator of the series The Tudors, Vikings and its sequel Vikings: Valhalla, Nathalie Baye (Nox, Ten Percent), Mathieu Kassovitz (The Office of Legends) and Isabelle Nanty (munch) will be the guests of honor at the festival.
Conferences and exceptional meetings will punctuate the festival, the opportunity to exchange with the personalities present for the occasion and to deepen its serial culture. Stéphane Bern will talk about royalty in the series, François Busnel, the host of The Great Bookseller, will discuss adaptations, Martin Hisrsh and Thomas Lilti (Hippocrates) will discuss the public hospital crisis and the director Ovidie will lead a discussion on “Sexualities and series: a simulacrum of liberation”.
Among the personalities present, we can also note Fianso, Vincent Elbaz, Bérangère Krief, Niels Arestrup, Emmanuelle Béart, Kool Shen and Marina Hands. The public will also be able to meet writers, including Michel Bussi and Joel Dicker.
Funnythe new Netflix comedy signed by the creator of Ten percent, Fanny Herrero will open whileOussekineAntoine Chevrollier’s drama series for Disney + will close the festival.