Russian Drama Wins Series Mania Co-Pro Pitching Session

August 31, 2021 Jamie Stalcup
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The jury of the Series Mania Forum’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions selected the Russian period drama Red Rainbow as winner of the Best Project Award.

Based on a true story from 1979, the series follows three young gay activists from West Berlin who are invited to Moscow, where being gay is a crime, with an official visit. As the winner, its producer Alexander Rodnyansky of AR Content/Non-Stop Production and writer Matt Jones are the recipients of €50,000.

“We were incredibly impressed with all of the pitches, yet it was the strong story of LGBTQIA+ elements of Red Rainbow that helped us to reach a unanimous decision,” said Polly Williams, president of the jury that selected the winner and managing director of Federation UK. “The pitch was very original, and at the heart of the story was a warmth. This is a narrative that is still very relevant today and a story that definitely needs to be told.”

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“The Co-Pro Pitching Sessions are one of the most anticipated parts of the Series Mania Forum,” said Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director of the event. “We are delighted to be giving the €50,000 prize to Alexander and Matt and for their wonderful period drama Red Rainbow. With its LGBTQIA+ theme, it is stories like this that will help build awareness. I have no doubt this series will soon find the perfect partners, and this once again confirms that Series Mania is the place where series begin.”

The jury included Williams; Daniel Campos Pavoncelli, head of film and TV and partner of Indiana Production; Sened Dhab, VP of digital scripted at France Télévisions; Mar Diaz, fiction executive producer at RTV; and Maria Feldman, producer and creator at Masha.

More than a hundred projects have been presented as part of the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions since its creation in 2013. This year, three series that previously participated in the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions are part of the Official Selection of the Series Mania Festival, including Blackport, Jerusalem and The Last Socialist Artefact.