On March 24, the winning team will be announced during Series Mania Forum (March 24 –26) as part of the Co-Pro Pitching Award session.
For its fourth edition, the creative initiative SeriesMakers, led by the prestigious Series Mania Institute and in partnership with the European content powerhouse Beta Group, has announced the ten selected projects that emerged to participate in the tailor-made program for feature film directors who venture into the world of series.
The eligible director-producer or director-writer teams from all over the world have been closely mentored and guided by experienced and awarded creatives while working on their series and developing a full pitch deck.
On March 24, the winning team will be announced during Series Mania Forum (March 24 –26) as part of the Co-Pro Pitching Award session.
For the fourth edition of SeriesMakers, the following ten projects have been selected:
Cesium 137, by writer-director Fabio Meira and producer Tatiana Leite
(Brazil, 4×60’, drama/based on true events)
Cesium-137 investigates the tragic accident in Goiânia, Brazil, and the chain of errors committed by the highest levels of public authority, which, along with the ignorance of ordinary citizens, led to the world’s second-largest radiological accident, destroying families and leaving unhealed wounds.
Chachachá!, by writer-director Alison Fairweather Murray and producer Jennifer Weiss
(Canada, 8×30’, drama/comedy)
When a Gen X woman’s sky-high blood pressure forces her to confront how out of touch with herself she has become, she turns to Latin dancing – not for fun, but for survival – igniting chaos with her family.
Fortune Cookie, by writer-director Adrián Saba and producer Fernando Sánchez-Cabezudo
(Spain, 6×45’, thriller/comedy)
When a delivery girl steps through a secret portal in the basement of a chinese
restaurant in Madrid’s Chinatown and disappears, her mother begins a relentless search, uncovering a drug‑smuggling operation between Two families and two restaurants that are secretly linked by a basement portal.
Game Knights of the Middle Age, by writer-director Craig Wallace and producer Sarah Timmins
(Canada, 10×30’, mystery/comedy)
A twisted murder-mystery comedy about the middle-aged members of a suburban Dungeons & Dragons-esque role playing group who must solve the murder of their Game Master before they take the fall for his death or become the next victims.
Ghosts of Marseille, by writer-director Nicolas Silhol and producer Clémence Lavigne
(France, 6×52’, political crime thriller)
A brutal attack in present-day Marseille forces a fearless trainee journalist and a disillusioned cop to confront the ghosts of the bloody summer of 1973 – and sends them on a race to stop history repeating itself.
Humdrum, by writer-director-producer Patricia Kelly
(Ireland, 6×40’, crime/dramedy)
A freelance court transcriber, whose life is in the toilet, inappropriately interferes in the cases she types to find justice for victims, but quickly loses sight of what’s right and what’s very wrong
Kris, by co-director/co-writer David Tišer and co-director/co-writer/producer Rozalie Kohoutová
(Czech Republic, 6×30’, drama)
When Zojko and Ricco, two Romani boys from radically different social worlds, fall in love, their relationship endangers the ones closest to them. They must both make profound sacrifices in order to discover who they truly are.
Lot 55 – Dorothy Stang: A Death Foretold, by writer-director Felipe Mucci and producer Alfredo Manevy
(Brazil, 5×60’, political thriller)
In one of the most important trials of the 21st century, a young prosecutor races against time to uncover the culprits behind the murder of an American nun in the Amazon Rainforest before she becomes their next victim.
Sunday Service, by director Samkelo Makhanya and writer-producer Nomvuselelo Dlamini (South Africa, 12×30’, comedy)
When a tone deaf worship leader tricks her church into filming a “comeback” documentary, what begins as a vanity project unravels into a chaotic Faith Testing Campaign to save their building from eviction.
The Tree, by writer-director Akihiro Hata and producer Clément Duboin
(France, 6×25’, fantasy/thriller)
An ancient intelligent forest materialises the unconscious of those who venture into it, to defend itself against the Eurol∞p train project. Anna, deputy project manager of Eurol∞p, soon finds herself torn between her mission and defending the forest, without knowing the true nature of the project.
The prolific four mentors are Gabor Krigler (Hungary), Donna Sharpe (UK), Angeli MacFarlane (UK), and Mariano Baselga (Spain).
The speakers included showrunners, writers, and producers, such as Bryan Elsley (Skins, Counsels), Isabelle Lindberg Pechou (Trom, Last Light), writer-producer Nicola Lusuardi (1992, 1994, Romulus), Frédéric Lavigne and François-Pier Pélinard-Lambert (Series Mania), Franziska An der Gassen (Apple TV Germany), Marianne Furevold (NRK), and Ana Diez Pereda (Movistar+).
The creative initiative SeriesMakers is headed by Marianne Guillon, Director of Series Mania Institute, and Ferdinand Dohna, Head of Content & Co-Production of Beta. SeriesMakers was initiated by Laurence Herszberg, General Director of Series Mania and Koby Gal Raday, CEO Janeiro Studios, and was first launched in 2022.
