The 14th edition of Series Mania will be held in Lille from 15 to 22 March 2024. On this occasion, the public is invited to discover a rich selection of 52 never-before-seen series from 21 countries, including 13 from France. The Series Mania Forum, the industry section of the festival, will take place from 19 to 21 March, and will welcome over 4,000 professionals from 60 countries across five continents. The Forum will close with the Lille Dialogues on 21 March.
Figures from the latest study conducted by the CNC and Unifrance have revealed an all-time high for French drama, with sales of €80.7 million, representing an increase of 40.9% between 2021 and 2022. For the first time since 1999, when statistical tracking of exports by genre began, fiction has become the leading export genre, accounting for 37.6% of total sales.
It is against this particularly buoyant backdrop that Unifrance will be organising the ninth Coming Next from France event, as part of the Series Mania Forum, and will be present at both the Forum and the festival to showcase the diversity of French fiction creation.
For the first time, Unifrance is presenting seven previously unseen French series at Coming Next from France (compared with five in previous years)
The Coming Next from France sessions, which will be held on Tuesday March 19 from 3.30pm to 4.30pm at the Auditorium Marie Curie (Lille Grand Palais),will showcase seven French series soon to be available on the international market, in front of an audience of foreign decision-makers and buyers. It’s an opportunity for teams of distributors, producer, and sometimes artists, to raise the profile of their programs on the international market.
The seven series presented in 2024:
- Une amitiédangereuse/ A Dangerous Friendship,distributed by Mediawan Rights
- Ça, c’est Paris,distributed by Federation Studios
- Carpe Diem distributed by Newen Connect
- L’Éclipse/The Eclipse, distributed by About Premium Content
- Au-dessus de tout soupçon / The Black Widow,distributed by Film & Picture
- Rivages/Sea Shadows,distributed by France tv distribution
- ZetwalCaraïbes/Zetwal,distributed by Trace Studios
These seven series testify to the diversity and boldness of French fiction. They offer a vast range of writing styles, universes and genres (crime, social drama, history, thriller, science fiction, young adult, etc.), and feature both established actors and promising new faces. Each in its own way, these works explore singular and sometimes little-known worlds, and offer a condensed view of French society, past and present.
Unifrance’s presence at the Series Mania Forum
Unifrance is once again joining forces with the Series Mania Forum to present the Welcome Drink, the opening reception of the professional meetings, attended by predominantly international industry professionals.
The organization will also be offering its members a space to host their meetings in the Business Lounge.
A fine representation of French creation in the festival program
In 2024, French creations are very well represented in the program, with 13 French works in all the festival’s sections: International Competition, French Competition, Comedy Competition, Short Forms Competition, Special Screenings, and alsoDocumentary Series, a new category created this year.
For the first time, the festival’s main juries will include two of the new faces in the French cinema and audiovisual realms, supported by Unifrance as part of its 10 to Watch initiative. Each year, this program honors 10 artists making a splash on the international scene. Actor Sofiane Zermani will be on the International Competition jury, and actress Suzy Bemba on the International Panorama jury.
Unifrance will also be on hand at the festival to promote this sterling French presence and meet the artistic teams behind the selected series: actors, screenwriters, directors, showrunners…
Short videos for the general public will be posted on Unifrance’s social networks throughout the festival.
The full French selection at Series Mania 2024
International Competition
- Dans l’ombre / In the Shadows, France 2
- Rematch, ARTE / Disney+ / HBO Europe
French Competition
- Homejacking, OCS
- Le monde n’existe pas / The World Does Not Exist, ARTE
- Machine, ARTE / Prime Video
- Murder Club, M6
- Ourika, Prime Video
- Une amitié dangereuse/ A Dangerous Friendship, France Télévisions
Short Forms Competition
- Bouchon, ARTE
- Ceux qui rougissent/ ThoseWho Blush, ARTE / RTS
ComedyCompetition
- Extra., OCS
SpecialScreenings — Out of Competition
- HPI — Saison 4/ HIP — Season 4, TF1
DocumentarySeries
- Insoupçonnable, France 2
