Series Mania Unveils Strong 2022 Edition With 29 World Premieres

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentMo Abudu, CEO of Nigeria’s The EbonyLife Group, will be celebrated by France’s upcoming Series Mania festival with its Women in Series Award. The prize, given in tandem with the European Women’s Audiovisual Network (EWA Network) and advocacy group Pour Les Femmes Dans Les Médias (PFDM), honors a remarkable woman from the audiovisual industry for her vision and leadership.

ScreenSkills Invests £10M In UK High-End TV

Naman Ramachandran Ukrainian film producer and co-founder of the Ukrainian Film Academy Julia Sinkevych (“Heat Singers”) has been selected as jury president for this year’s Series Mania Festival and its international competition. “She has always been committed to supporting Ukrainian artists and the culture of her country from Kyiv, where she lives,” the festival said in a statement.

The Co-Founder of the Ukrainian Film Academy has been named Jury President for this year’s Series Mania.

Russian film and TV organization Roskino has been banned from next month’s Series Mania and Millennium Media exec Yariv Lerner has issued a call to help Ukrainian film professionals, as the media world continues to react to the conflict.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentRussia’s Roskino, the government-backed advocacy organization for the nation’s film and TV industry, has been barred from participating in Series Mania, the international TV showcase that will unfold in Northern France next month, Variety has confirmed.The Russian org was expected to host a presentation of buzzed-about content at Series Mania’s industry showcase in Lille, which runs from March 18-25. The festival disinvited Roskino after the French culture ministry vetoed its presence at at the event in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The news of Series Mania’s stand against Roskino was first reported by Screen.Roskino has in recent years ramped up its presence at key industry events, reflecting the emergence of new generation of Russian filmmakers on the international scene.

The world premiere of Outlander Season 6 was held in London last night. Sam Heughan was among the many stars on the red carpet, at the show’s first ever premiere in the UK.

The first trailer for “Pachinko” has been released, offering a first look at the upcoming Apple TV+ adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s sprawling multigenerational saga chronicling how one family’s journey from Korea to America over the course of decades, told in three different languages: Korean, Japanese and English.

EXCLUSIVE: Cannabis feature documentary Lady Buds, which tells the story of a group of multigenerational women as they navigate the new world of cannabis farming and distribution in Northern California, is getting a pair of spinoffs.

Kanye West is holding a live performance at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida.The rapper, now legally known as Ye, announced the performance earlier this month with an image on social media that showed a house on stilts, engulfed in flames. The structure resembled the rapper’s childhood home, a recreation of which heavily featured during his third and final listening party for the original ‘Donda’ last year at Chicago’s Soldier Field stadium.Per a press release, the ‘Donda Experience’ event will feature a combination of music, art and fashion, with performances and “additional special guests”.

Danny Dyer is set to leave EastEnders after nearly a decade, but it seems he may be part of I’m A Celebrity’s big plans amid a move back to Australia later this year. The actor, 44, has portrayed Mick Carter in the BBC soap since 2013 but confirmed he would be leaving his role last month. Although his exit storyline – and just when he will leave Albert Square – is not yet known, he teased it would be ‘a very powerful thing.

Afternoon subscribers. Max Goldbart here with your weekly dose of International Insider news and analysis and it’s been as busy as ever over the past seven days. Scroll down for more.

Series Mania Forum’s 2022 Co-Pro Pitching Sessions.One of Europe’s most prestigious TV competitions, with titles competing for a €50,000 ($56,000) grand prize, this year’s Sessions form part of the Forum, which runs March 22-24.The lineup is rich in projects backed by top-tier producers and sales forces, while sluiced by large themes, such as racial and gender equality.The latest from top Italian company Fandango, producer of “Gomorrah” and “My Brilliant Friend,” “The Impossible She” turns on about the first woman to be selected for a Formula 1 race.

Jamie Lang Series Mania unveiled the fifteen projects set to pitch at this year’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions with the hopes of scoring the €50,000 ($56,821) grand prize. Among the impressive list of participants is Israeli thriller “The Accident,” written by celebrated filmmaker Mata Yair (“Scaffolding,” “One on One”) and produced by Maya Fischer at his long-time collaborators Green Productions.“The Accident” is the story of the Alegba family and their efforts to get away from their life in a downtrodden neighborhood dominated by criminals.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s a strong first English-language trailer for director Rama Burshtein’s (Fill The Void) anticipated TV debut Fire Dance, which has just been announced for Series Mania’s main competition.

Series Mania has unveiled the nine shows from six countries competing for the prestigious International Competition along with revealing the lineup and guests of honor for this year’s edition, the first to take place in person for three years.

Outlander fans are being treated with an extra special Valentines Day gift this year as they're in for a chance to attend the season six world premiere in London.