Series Mania Forum Announces Co-Pro Pitching Sessions Selection

Series Mania Forum has announced the 15 additional projects—Gold was previously revealed as part of Berlinale’s Co-Pro Series Market—to be presented as part of the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions.

The projects selected are Aurora.Newsroom. (Latvia); Death of a Diplomat (Iceland, Canada); Dejima (France); Fagnes (Belgium); Fit (Israel); Ignition (Germany); Imposter Syndrome (U.K.); Konrad (Iceland); Montroc (France); Power Couple (Finland); Red Pants (Kyrgyzstan); The Glacier Murders (Spain, Chile); The Transfer of the Century (Italy); Twisted Vines (South Africa); and Without Standing (Spain). Gold (Switzerland) will be presented but will be excluded from the competition for the grand prize.

The 15 projects were selected from 400 applications from 65 countries, including new territories such as Palestine, Kyrgyzstan, Cyprus, Uruguay, Panama and Malaysia.

An international jury of industry professionals will determine the best project among the 15 projects and award €50,000 to the winner to help with development.

The 2026 jury president is Jorge Pezzi, head of fiction and entertainment at Movistar Plus+ (Spain). Jury members are Alexandre Piel, deputy head of drama at ARTE (France); Laura Mae Harding, commissioning editor at ZDF (Germany); Alon Aranya, founder of Paper Plane Productions (U.S.); and Johanna Gårdare, head of drama and film at SVT (Sweden).

“The Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, a well-established and eagerly awaited event in the Forum landscape for over a decade now, have had a tangible impact on many projects over the years,” said Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director of Series Mania. “It was wonderful for us to see that this year, a wide variety of countries were represented, both in the submissions and in the selected projects. This year, we noted a diversity of stories in projects ranging from eco-thrillers to whodunits, including projects that tell the stories of powerful female characters. We now look forward to welcoming our jury composed of internationally recognized professionals to Lille and awarding the winner of the best project award with €50,000.”

Francesco Capurro, director of Series Mania Forum, added, “Since the launch of the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions at the Series Mania Forum, more than 40 projects have been produced and successfully broadcast across numerous territories. As a true development accelerator, these sessions offer a unique opportunity for producers to connect with potential co-producers, distributors and international broadcasters, helping ambitions series reach audiences worldwide.”