05/03/2024 - Kaouther Ben Hania, Kevin Macdonald, Barbara Albert, Mijke de Jong, Yorgos Zois, Mikko Myllylahti, Hajni Kis and Guy Myhill are just some of the directors helming the 10 selected projects

Director Kaouther Ben Hania, whose series project Freedom Academy has been selected (© Vera de Kok)

An exceptional line-up is set to grace the second edition of SERIESMAKERS, an initiative organised by Series Mania and Germany’s Beta Group in order to lend support to film talent looking to migrate their efforts towards series, with the eye-catching directors behind the 10 projects selected for this year’s event - whose teams benefitted from a tailored training programme overseen by renowned consultants who helped them fine-tune their entire pitch decks – consisting of Tunisia’s Kaouther Ben Hania (nominated twice at the Oscars, for Best Documentary via her Cannes competitor Four Daughters [+see also:
film review
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interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile], and Best International Film via The Man Who Sold His Skin [+see also:
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interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile], which was also selected for Venice’s Orizzonti section), Scot Kevin Macdonald (of Oscar-winner The Last King of Scotland [+see also:
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film profile] and The Mauritanian [+see also:
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film profile]), Austria’s Barbara Albert (selected in competition in Venice via Nordrand and Falling [+see also:
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film profile], as well as in San Sebastián via The Dead and the Living [+see also:
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interview: Barbara Albert
film profile] and Mademoiselle Paradis [+see also:
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interview: Barbara Albert
film profile]), Holland’s Mijke de Jong (Layla M [+see also:
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film profile]), Greek director Yorgos Zois (whose movie Arcadia [+see also:
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interview: Yorgos Zois
film profile] has just been presented in the Berlinale’s Encounters line-up and whose earlier work Interruption [+see also:
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interview: Daphné Patakia
interview: Yorgos Zois
film profile] screened in the Orizzonti section in Venice), Finland’s Mikko Myllylahti (The Woodcutter Story [+see also:
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interview: Mykko Myllylahti
film profile], rewarded in Cannes’ Critics’ Week), Hungary’s Hajni Kis (Wild Roots [+see also:
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film profile], selected in Karlovy Vary’s East of the West line-up) and Brit Guy Myhill (The Goob [+see also:
film review
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interview: Guy Myhill
film profile], screened in Venice’s Giornate degli Autori event). Similarly worth a mention is Filippino director Erik Matti (On the Job 2: The Missing 8, which competed in Venice) and Israeli duo Amir Manor and Guy Raz.

The four mentors for this year’s edition are German producer Janine Jackowski, Israeli screenwriter Ronit Weiss-Berkowitz, French-Danish international development specialist Isabelle Lindberg Pechou and Brazilian producer, screenwriter and showrunner Felipe Braga (Sintonia), and that’s without forgetting the other speakers featuring on the agenda, including Canadian Chris Brancato, American Frank Doelger, Israeli Hagai Levi, Scot Bryan Elsley (Skins), Israeli-American Ron Leshem and Germany’s Stefan Arndt.

Three projects are set to be awarded prizes on 20 March (two of which will win development grants to the tune of €50,000, courtesy of Beta, while the third will walk away with €20,000, courtesy of the Kirch Foundation in collaboration with HFF – the University of Television and Film Munich) within the Series Mania Forum (running 19 – 21 March – read our news), which is the professional sidebar of the 14th Series Mania Festival (kicking off in Lille on 15 March – article).

For the record, the festival’s first edition singled out Juho Kuosmanen, César Díaz and Beatriz Seigner as its victors (read our news).

The selection is as follows:

Breach (4 x 50') (Holland)
Director: Mijke de Jong
Screenwriters: Giancarlo Sanchez and Jan Eilander

Doctor’s Oath (4 × 52’) (Finland)
Director: Mikko Myllylahti
Producers: Aleksi Hyvärinen and Taneli Mustone

Elephant (7 × 40’) (Hungary)
Director and screenwriter: Hajni Kis
Co-screenwriter: Dávid Csicskár

Freedom Academy (8 × 45’) (France)
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Producer: Nadim Cheikhrouha

George Blake (6 × 52’) (UK/Holland)
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Producer: Femke Wolting

Play (8 × 52’) (Greece)
Director: Yorgos Zois
Producer: Stelios Cotionis

Sleeping Swans (8 × 52’) (Germany)
Director: Barbara Albert
Screenwriter: Ulrike Tony Vahl
Producer: Martina Haubrich

The Squatter (8 x 52’) (The Philippines)
Director: Erik Matti
Producer: Ronald Monteverde

The Willow Song (8 × 50’) (UK)
Screenwriter and director: Guy Myhill
Co-screenwriters: Tony Phillips and Sophie Vaughan

Willz (10 × 40’) (Israel)
Screenwriters and directors: Amir Manor and Guy Raz

(Translated from French)