Series Mania Unveils 2023 Festival Winners

As Series Mania Festival 2023 came to a close last week after seeing more than 85,000 participants, the various competition awards winners were unveiled, with the international competition’s grand prize going to Iran’s The Actor.

Other winners in the international competition were John Kâre Raake for best writing for his work on The Fortress (Norway); Margot Bancilhon for best actress for her role in Haven of Grace (France); and Michael Sheen for best actor for his role in Best Interests (U.K.).

The international jury was chaired by American showrunner, screenwriter and producer Lisa Joy and included actress Emmanuelle Béart (France), director Anurag Kashyap (India), showrunner Chris Chibnall (U.K.), actor Judah Levi (Israel) and singer Lou Doillon (France).

The International Panorama, chaired by French writer Hervé Le Tellier, awarded four prizes among the 12 series presented, with best series going to Blackwater (Sweden). Tengo que morir todas las noches’ Ernesto Contreras (Mexico) picked up the best directing prize. Rotem Sela and Gal Malka were jointly awarded best actress for A Body That Works (Israel), while Eran Naim took home the best actor prize for Innermost (Germany-Israel). The U.K.’s Funny Woman picked up the student award for best series.

The International Panorama jury included creative director and producer Lone Korslund (Denmark), actress Assa Sylla (France), actor Hugo Bardin (France), Sundance Institute Director of Episodic Programs Jandiz Cardoso (U.S.) and screenwriter Lila Byock (U.S.), in addition to Le Tellier.

In the French competition, the best series prize was presented to Under Control, while Clémentine Célarié won best actress for Six Women and Carel Brown won best actor for Aspergirl. Best original score went to Maud Geffray and Rebeka Warrior for Split. The jury consisted of Ariana Finos (La Repubblica, Italy), Enric Albero (El Cultural, Spain), Hanna Huge (serienjunkies.de, Germany), Adrian Hennigan (Haaretz, Israel) and Ashanti Omkar (BBC, U.K.).

Led by U.S. creator, writer and producer Sam Shaw, the short forms competition jury awarded Spain’s Autodefensa with best series. Screenwriter Madison Walsh (Canada), actor Jérémy Gillet (Belgium) and photographer and director Charlotte Abramow (Belgium) rounded out the jury.

The comedies competition saw best series by a high school students jury of the Hauts-de-France given to France’s Rictus. The public award, given to the audience’s favorite series, was presented to Canada’s Little Bird.

“We would like to thank the public and the professionals who attended this edition, which brought together more than 85,000 participants for the Festival and 3,800 participants from 64 countries for the Forum,” said Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director of Series Mania. “We are delighted to announce our prize list and figures that have far exceeded our expectations.”