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SÉRIES MANIA 2019

The Virtues emerges triumphant at Séries Mania

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- The Grand Prix and Best Actor Award have gone to the British series, while the Best Actress Award and Audience Award were bestowed upon the French production Mytho

The Virtues emerges triumphant at Séries Mania
Shane Meadows, co-creator, co-writer and director of The Virtues, the winner of the Grand Prix at the 10th Séries Mania Festival (© Gael Leitao/Séries Mania)

The tenth edition of the Séries Mania Festival, which has just unspooled in Lille for the second year, kept all of its promises, especially when it came to a clutch of announcements for new French productions, several of which are being staged by Netflix (three forthcoming documentaries and a fiction series, not to mention season 2 of The Hook Up Plan, and the projects Arsène Lupin, starring Omar Sy and produced by Gaumont Télévision, and The Eddy by Damien Chazelle, staged by Atlantique Production). These are in addition to a slew of titles currently in production (Family Business by Igor GotesmanLa grande classe by Rémy Four and Julien WarBanlieusards by Kery JamesMarianne by Samuel Bodin, and Mortel by Frédéric Garcia), as well as Guillaume Gallienne’s adaptation of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust in three seasons consisting of 8x52-minute episodes (a Cinéfrance StudiosFederation Entertainment and Don't Be Shy production) and four projects initiated by Orange Studio (UnpunishedL’Opéra, Les sentinelles, and Cheyenne et Lola, which thus join Le Nom de la Rose on the line-up, a series currently in production with Sky Italia and Lux Vide), among others.

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As for the international competition, the British series The Virtues won over the jury chaired by the USA’s Marti Noxon, taking home the Grand Prix and the Best Actor Award, bestowed upon Stephen Graham. Created and written by Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne, and directed by the former, this series was produced by Warp Films and Big Arty Productions, and is aired by Channel 4. The other big winner at this edition was the French series Mytho, which scooped the Best Actress Award (for Marina Hands) and the Audience Award. Penned by Anne Berest and directed by Fabrice Gobert, this series staged by Unité de Production and Arte France will be broadcast by Arte in France and Germany, and by Netflix in the rest of the world.

The French competition crowned Apnea, based on an original idea by Simon Moutaïrou, and with a screenplay written by Aurélien Molas and Gaia Guasti, in conjunction with Marcia Romano. Directed by Julien Trousselier, this 6x52-minute series was produced by Image & Compagnie (Lagardère Studios) in co-production with Arte. It is also worth mentioning the Best Actress Award pocketed by Carole Weyers for Double Je and the Best Actor gong that served to single out Grégory Montel for his performance in Le grand bazar.

In the International Panorama section, the Best Series Award was bestowed upon the Norwegian production Exit, created by Petter Testmann-Koch and Øystein Karlsen, and directed by the latter. The Fremantle Norway-produced series is aired by NRK.

Lastly, after considering the 16 titles presented in the Copro Pitching Sessions, the jury chaired by the USA’s Meghan Lyvers (CBS Studios) picked out the French project Purple (produced by Silex Films and Mother Production) as the winner. Written by Noémie Havas and Judith de Lapparent, the series therefore went home with a grant of €50,000 intended for development support.

Here is the complete list of winners:

International competition

Jury Grand Prix
The Virtues created and written by Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne. Directed by Shane Meadows (UK)

Special Jury Prize
Just for Today, created by Nir Bergman and Ram Nehari. Written and directed by Nir Bergman (Israel)

Best Actress Award
Marina Hands for Mytho written by Anne Berest, directed by Fabrice Gobert (France)

Best Actor Award
Stephen Graham for The Virtues (UK)

Audience Award
Mytho (France)

French Competition

Best Series
Apnea – written by Aurélien Molas and Gaia Guasti, based on an original idea by Simon Moutaïrou, in conjunction with Marcia Romano, directed by Julien Trousselier

Best Actress
Carole Weyers for Double Je (created by Camille Pouzol, Stéphane Drouet and Lionel Olenga, directed by Laurent Dussaux and Akim Isker)

Best Actor
Grégory Montel for Le grand bazar (directed by Baya Kasmi, who wrote the screenplay with Michel Leclerc, Sarah Kaminsky and Lyes Salem)

Best Series in the International Panorama
Exit – created by Petter Testmann-Koch and Øystein Karlsen, written and directed by the latter (Norway)

Best Series in the Short Forms Competition
People Talking (Gente hablando) – created, written and directed by Álvaro Carmona (Spain)

Best Comedy Series 
M’entends-tu ? – created by Florence Longpré and directed by Myriam Boucard (Quebec)

Copro Pitching Sessions Award
Purple – written by Noémie Havas and Judith de Lapparent (France)

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(Translated from French)

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