The ninth Lille-based edition of Series Mania Festival has once again closed on a high, boasting record attendance figures of 112,000 participants in the main festival (4,000 more than the previous year) and 5,200 professionals from 75 countries who took part in the Forum.

The Polish series Proud dominated the International Competition, walking away with the Grand Prize, and the Best Actor trophy for Ignacy Liss. Created and directed by Karol Klementewicz who wrote the screenplay in league with Monika Pęcikiewicz, this 8 x 35-minute series revolves around a young brash and irresponsible gay man called Filip who believes the world is his oyster. When a family tragedy strikes, his self-focus morphs into a lingering feeling of guilt. Taking in his young niece, Filip longs for his freedom but the idea of entrusting the baby to strangers stirs up his own childhood trauma. In order to care for her, he’ll need to face up to his weaknesses and failures, as well as society’s prejudice. Production falls to TVN Warner Bros. Discovery and Magnolia Films on behalf of HBO Max.   

Presided over by Iceland’s Benedikt Erlingsson (backed by Brazil’s Alice Braga, Belgium’s Cécile de France, France’s Hatik, Iran’s Ida Panahandeh and Brit Luke Watson), the International Competition jury seemed to favour European production, with Danny Kelly scooping Best Screenplay for the British series Waiting For The Out and Sweden’s Amanda Jansson Best Actress thanks to her performance in My Brother.

Another British title shone bright in the International Panorama section: Small Prophets nabbed both the Best Series Prize and Best Actress (Lauren Patel). Produced by Treasure Entertainment and Blue House Productions for the BBC, this 6 x 30-minute series created, written and directed by Mackenzie Crook is a fantasy story following in the wake of Michael who’s been struggling since the unexplained disappearance of his girlfriend, Clea, seven years earlier. When his father unearths an old alchemy recipe, Michael throws caution to the wind and creates magical spirits capable of predicting the future. Helped by his friend Kacey, he raises these creatures in his shed, hoping they’ll provide an answer to his one and only obsession: will he ever see Clea again? But as they come to life, the spirits trigger a series of strange events…

Also worth a mention in the International Panorama section is the Best Director Award won by Germany’s Arne Feldhussen for The Flaws. The French competition, for its part, was won by All Shapes of Us, revolving around six teenagers starting at a school specialising in eating disorders, while Karim Leklou was crowned Best Actor for his role in the French-Belgian title Eldorado and Manon Kneusé was named Best Actress for Camarades.     

For the record, the Series Mania Forum’s professional prizes (linked to the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, Buyers’ Upfront and SERIESMAKERS line-ups) were awarded last Tuesday (read our news).

The winners are as follows:

International Competition

Grand Prize
Proud (Poland - HBO Max)

Best Screenplay
Danny Kelly - Waiting For The Out (UK - BBC)       

Best Actress
Amanda Jansson - My Brother (Sweden/Denmark/Norway/Finland/Iceland - Sveriges Television/DR/NRK/YLE/RÚV)      

Best Actor
Ignacy Liss - Proud

International Panorama

Best Series
Small Prophets (UK – BBC)

Best Director
Arne Feldhussen - The Flaws (Germany - ZDF)

Best Actress
Lauren Patel - Small Prophets

Best Actor
Maxime Le Flaguais - Welcome to Kingston-Falls (Canada - ICI Radio-Canada)        

Students’ Prize
Variola vera (Poland - TVP)

French Competition

Best Series
All Shapes of Us (TF1)

Best Actress
Manon Kneusé - Camarades (Arte)

Best Actor
Karim Leklou - Eldorado (France/Belgium – Arte/RTBF)    

Best Original Score
Amine Bouhafa - Privileges (HBO Max)

Short Format Competition

Best Series
Ayer’s Cliff (Canada – ICI tou.tv Extra)

Special Mention
Hirayasumi (Japan - NHK)

High School Students Award
La dernière heure (France - Arte)

High School Students Award – Special Mention
Homebodies (Australia - SBS)

Other awards

Audience Award
Dustfall – Australia (ABC TV, BBC, ZDF)