The 2023 edition of Séries Mania, which will be held in Lille from March 17 to 24, has just unveiled its programming. With, on the preview side, “Salade Grecque”, “Bardot’, “HPI” season 3, “The Swarm” and “Up to now everything is fine” by Nawell Madani.
After a 2022 edition which brought together 72,000 people and was marked by great serial discoveries such as The World of Tomorrow, Syndrome E, Soft Chair, Les Papillons noirs, We Own This City, The Baby, or Reusss, the Festival Séries Mania returns to Lille as every year, from March 17 to 24, for a 2023 vintage that already promises to delight series lovers and fans of fiction from all over the world.
“In 2023, we pay particular attention to series coming from territories other than the more established ones of the Anglo-Saxon world or Europe. Among the 396 series received from 63 countries, we have selected 54 from 24 nationalities. different. Some come from unusual territories such as Greece, Pakistan, Benin, Uruguay or Iran”explain Laurence Herszberg, general manager of Séries Mania, and Frédéric Lavigne, artistic director in a press release.
“The rise of these serial forms based on other narrative and aesthetic codes does not go without questioning our very Western way of telling and looking at stories. How can we change our criteria and operate, sometimes, a form of displacement in the face of to these creations that partly escape our codes?”.
“If creativity is now the fact of the whole world, it is also necessary to note a certain standardization of storytellings linked to the weight of platforms, to exacerbated competition and to market tensions. In this context, the diversification of stories and their visibility appear all the more important, and in this respect, a festival like ours as well as the press have a key role to play”.
Among the major themes that inhabit the selection of this 2023 edition, we can cite a wave of the 80s and 90s, with series such as the Quebecois Désobéir: the choice of Chantale Daigle, which evokes the difficulty of abortion in the 1980s , or the Mexican Tengo que morir todas las noches, which looks back on the AIDS epidemic and discrimination against homosexuals. Subjects still sadly topical, which the prism of the past allows us to point out.
Another theme, very present in the selection: ecology, addressed in particular in the series The Fortress, and its Norway which lives in autarky behind a wall and sorts out Western climate refugees, or in the disaster event drama The Swarm, with Cécile de France, who sees disturbing creatures from the oceans making humans pay for the polluted seabed.
Finally, several series highlight the seal of feminine power, in ways as varied as in The Power, with Toni Collette, which depicts a world literally in the hands of women since their fingers, vectors of electricity, allow them to eradicate anyone who finds fault with it, Les Randonneuses, a TF1 series with Clémentine Célarié and Alix Poisson, which follows six women suffering from cancer who set out to walk together in the mountains, or the Arte series Under control, and its overexcited political heroine embodied by Léa Drucker .
Cédric Klapisch, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu and Brian Cox among the guests of honor
As for the official selection of the Festival Séries Mania 2023, the jury of the international competition, which will be composed of Emmanuelle Béart, Lou Doillon, or Chris Chibnall (showrunner of Broadchurch), will be chaired by the American Lisa Joy, screenwriter , director and producer to whom we owe Westworld.
While the international panorama jury will be chaired by Hervé Le Tellier, Goncourt Prize 2020 for The Anomalyand will count, among others, in its ranks, the producer Lila Byock (Watchmen, The Leftovers), the French actress Assa Sylla (Skam France) and the French artist Hugo Bardin alias “Paloma” (winner of Drag Race France seen recently in Balthazar).
Cédric Klapisch, present for the world premiere at the opening of the festival of his Salade Grecque series (continuation of the trilogy The Spanish Inn), will host one of the highly anticipated masterclasses of this new Lille edition. Just like Brian Cox (Succession), Philippine Leroy Beaulieu (Emily in Paris), Cécile de France and Lisa Joy.
Several conferences, such as “Do series have style?”, “Is the representation of war possible in series?”, or “What can series do for ecology?” will also punctuate the week, with speakers such as Paloma, Stéphane Foenkinos, Florence Aubenas and Cyril Dion.
And on the side of the Village Festival, the Fan-Club will allow the public to meet the actors of Alex Hugo, Askip, César Wagner, Tomorrow belongs to us, Until here everything is fine, Léo Matteï and The Mysteries of love.
Finally, beautiful people are expected to come and represent the various series in competition: Yvan Attal, Victor Belmondo, Camille Chamoux, Maxence Danet-Fauvel, Camille Combal, Audrey Fleurot, Guillaume Gouix, Baptiste Lecaplain, Elsa Lunghini, Panayotis Pascot, Jean- Paul Rouve, Fred Testot, or Danièle Thompson. To recite nobody else but them.
Discover all the competition of this 2023 edition of Series Mania:
Opening Series
Greek Salad (France) – Prime Video
Closing series
Transatlantic (USA/Germany) – Netflix
International competition
De Grace (France/Belgium) – Arte
Drops of God (France/USA/Japan) – Apple TV+, France Télévisions, Hulu Japan
Passing Lies (Spain) – Paramount+
Milky Way (Greece) – Mega TV
Red Skies (Israel) – Reshet 13
The Actor (Iran) – Filmo, Namava
The Fortress (Norvège) – Viaplay
The Power (USA) – Prime Video
French competition
Aspergirl – OCS
Bardot – France Televisions
The Hikers – TF1
Polar Park – Art
Under control – Arte
Split – France tv slash
International panorama competition
A Body That Works (Israël) – Keshet TV
Apagon (Spain) – Movistar+
A Thin Line (Allemagne) – Paramount+
Barzakh (India/Pakistan/United Kingdom)
Blackwater (Sweden) – SVT
Disobey: The Choice of Chantale Daigle (Canada) – Crave
Funny Woman (Royaume-Uni) – Sky Max, OCS
Innermost (Israel/Germany)
The Route (Spain) – Atres Player Premium
Little Bird (Canada) – Crave
Nordland’ 99 (Denmark) – DR
I have to die every night (Mexique) – Paramount+
Short format competition
A Strange Summer (Finlande)
Autodefense (Spain)
Family Dog (France)
The Universe Conspires (Uruguay/Argentine)
Five Years (Czech Republic)
Latecomers (Australie)
Nichole (Canada)
One of the Boys (Danemark)
Comedy competition
A night marathon which will take place on Saturday March 19 at the UGC Ciné Cité Lille, and which will be subject to the appreciation of a jury of high school students from the Hauts-de-France Region who will award the Prize for Best Comedy.
Rictus (France) – OCS
Need for love (France) – OCS
Call Me Dad (Danemark) – Viaplay
Everyone Else Burns (Royaume-Uni) – Channel 4
Romantic Getaway (Royaume-Uni) – Sky
The Lovers (Royaume-Uni) – Sky
Special screenings
Black Santiago Club (Benin/Senegal/France) – Canal+ Première
Duty After School (South Korea) – TVING
So far so good (France) – Netflix
Nolly (UK) – ITVX
Rabbit Hole (USA) – Paramount+
The Swarm (Germany/Belgium) – ZDF, France Télévisions, Viaplay, RAI, Hulu Japan, ORF, SRF
New unreleased seasons
HPI saison 3 (France) – TF1
Young and golri season 3 (France) – OCS
Red Bracelets, new generation (France) – TF1
The Kingdom Exodus (The hospital and its ghosts) (Denmark) – Canal+, Viaplay, DR
Note that the Series Mania+ platform, totally free, will allow you to experience the festival online, to access the selected series (from the time of their screening for 48 hours), and to follow the meetings live and in replay. .
Find all the information on the website of the Mania Series Festival. And see you in Lille from March 17.