Series Mania

The tradition & historical record

Series Mania (French: Festival Séries Mania) is an international festival dedicated to television series, held annually in Lille, France. It is the largest TV series event in Europe and an important premiere platform. Series Mania comprises an institute of the same name, a forum for industry professionals, and a one-day summit Little Dialogues. ¹

The festival was established in 2010 by Laurence Herszberg. Initially it was hosted at the Forum des Images in Paris and started off with 250 industry attendees. In 2016, the government announced a competition between host cities for the best project of the festival's organization, which was won by the city of Lille. It bought the Séries Mania trademark from the city of Paris and has hosted the event since 2018. Still, the Centre National du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée in Paris remains the festival's important venue. The festival's sections are International Competition, French Competition, International Panorama Competition, Short Forms Competition, Midnight Comedies Competition, and Out of Competition Special Screenings. Within the sections, awards are given for Best Actor, Best Actress, Audience Award, etc. In 2013, the Series Mania Forum was founded. Directed by Francesco Capurro, the Forum is an important industry event that hosts conferences, panel discussions, showcases, and Co-Pro Pitching Sessions competition. The winner and the runner-up in Co-Pro Pitching competition receive a €50,000 development prize. Along with the main program and the Forum, Series Mania leads multiple cultural initiatives and events. The Little Dialogues is a one-day summit for industry professionals established to promote international cooperation. Launched in 2023, SERIESMAKERS initiative co-founded with Germany's Beta Group is purposed to aid projects in development with cash prize and the help of renowned consultants. Series Mania Institute, the education and training division, was established in 2021. It became the first institution in Europe that is completely focused on training professionals in TV series. ¹

2026 - Proud, Poland 2025 - Querer, Spain 2024 - Rematch, France, Hungary 2023 - The Actor, Iran 2022 - Le Monde De Demain, France 2021 - Blackport, Iceland 2020 - the contest was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2019 - The Virtues, United Kingdom 2018 - On The Spectrum, Israel ¹

The 2018 edition was the first one located in Lille. Running from April 27 to May 5, the festival offered its audience 77 series, more than 1000 screenings and a wide range of special programs. In the International Competition, the Grand Prix was awarded to On the Spectrum by Dana Idisis and Yuval Shafferman; Jury's Special Prize was given to Il Miracolo by Niccolò Ammaniti. Best Actress — Anna Mikhalkova (for An Ordinary Woman), Best Actor – Tommaso Ragno (Il Miracolo). The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel won the Audience Award. In the French Competition, the Best Series award went to Ad Vitam by Thomas Cailley and Sebastien Mounier, Anne Charrier was chosen the Best Actress for Maman a tort. Bryan Marciano (for Vingt-cinq) and Roschdy Zem (Aux Animaux la guerre) shared the Best Actor award. Kiri won in the International Panorama. ¹

The 10th anniversary edition went on March 22–30. The attendance reached 72,000. That year, Uma Thurman, Freddie Highmore, Charlie Brooker, and Marti Noxon gave masterclasses at the festival, while Eric Rochant, Hugo Blick and Dominik Moll participated in public talks. List of the premieres included Chambers, The Red Line, and many more. The Jury Grand Prix went to The Virtues by Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne, the Special Jury Prize went to Nir Bergman and Ram Nehari's series Just for Today. Audience Award went to Mytho by Anne Berest and Fabrice Gobert, Best Actress — Marina Hands (for Mytho), Best Actor — Stephen Graham (The Virtues). In the French Competition, Apnea by Gaia Guasti, Aurélien Molas, and Julien Trousselier won the Best Series award. Carole Weyers was chosen the Best Actress (for Super Jimmy), Best Actor — Grégory Montel (for Family Shake). In the International Panorama the Best Series award went to Exit, a Norwegian drama by Petter Testmann-Koch and Øystein Karlsen. The economic benefits of this year's edition estimated €5,273,063. ¹

The edition was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Forum was moved online and took place from March 25 to April 7. It attracted 1,500 professionals, featuring a 54 series Buyers Showcase. However, as one of the first European digital experiences, it had its weaknesses: some projects (almost the entire French section) were not available online. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Series Mania”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Series Mania is Television festival in Lille, France, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 2 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²