Out of the 15 projects selected for and presented at yesterday’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions - hosted by the Series Mania Festival’s professional sidebar, the Series Mania Forum (read our article and interview with director Francesco Capurro) - the jury led by British national Caroline Hollick (Channel 4) and further composed of fellow Brit Lindsey Martin (CBS Studios International), Italy’s Michele Zatta (RAI), France’s Françoise Guyonnet (StudioCanal) and Finland’s Jarmo Lampela (YLE), has singled out the Ukrainian war thriller project Unspoken. Their reasoning? "The powerful, relatable tale of a father prepared to go to any lengths to save his family is a bold and original take on the most urgent subject matter of our time."

Unspoken (which walked away with an award consisting of 50,000 euros, courtesy of Series Mania) is produced by Dmytro Sukhanov on behalf of Ukrainian firm Toy Cinema, alongside Natalia Libet for her compatriots at 2Brave Productions and Anna Rożalska for Poland’s Match&Spark. Penned by Zhanna Ozirna and Filip Syczyński, the story revolves around 42-year-old Evgenyi who is travelling from Poland to the heart of darkness in Ukraine with only one thing in mind: getting his wife and three children away from the grave danger presented by the Russian invasion. Time and resources are limited: the assault on Kiev is closing in by the hour and the only link he has with his family is his phone… Based on a true story, the series is set during the first six days of the war in Ukraine.

For the record, the Series Mania Forum has previously served as a springboard for series such as No Man’s Land [+leggi anche:
intervista: Souheila Yacoub
scheda series] (France), Banking District (Switzerland), Eden (France), Keeping Faith (UK), Manor House (Czech Republic), Stella Blomkvist (Iceland), Tabula Rasa (Belgium), Trepalium (France), Warrior (Denmark), Devils (Italy), The Head [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda series] (Spain), Ever After (Italy), The Last Socialist Artefact [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda series] (Slovenia, Finland) and We Got This (Sweden).