News

With the television industry continuing its painful transition from the peak TV era, it’s perhaps a surprise that Series Mania is expecting more international executives than ever to attend its 2025 edition, running March 21-28.

Laurence Herszberg founded the event in 2010 with some 250 industry attendees. This year, organisers are expecting around 4,500 accredited professionals in Lille, up 5% from last year, and 84 exhibitors at the industry-focused Forum, 25% more than last year.

Despite a global tightening of budgets and Series Mania taking place just weeks after Mip London and the London Screenings, organisers say they have seen no slowdown in the quality or...

With the television industry continuing its painful transition from the peak TV era, it’s perhaps a surprise that Series Mania is expecting more international executives than ever to attend its 2025 edition, running March 21-28.

Laurence Herszberg founded the event in 2010 with some 250 industry attendees. This year, organisers are expecting around 4,500 accredited professionals in Lille, up 5% from last year, and 84 exhibitors at the industry-focused Forum, 25% more than last year.

Despite a global tightening of budgets and Series Mania taking place just weeks after Mip London and the London Screenings, organisers say they have seen no slowdown in the quality or...

Unifrance has unveiled its extensive lineup for the 15th edition of Series Mania, set for March 21 to 28. This year, the festival will showcase a selection of 48 series from 20 countries, including 22 French shows, promising a feast for the eyes of TV enthusiasts and industry professionals alike.

The Series Mania Forum, the festival’s industry component, will run March 25 to 27, welcoming over 4,200 professionals from more than 70 countries. In this context, Unifrance will host the tenth Coming Next from France on March 25, spotlighting five new French series poised to make waves on the international market. These series, including France TV’s “Kitchen Hustle,” Have a Good One’s “Fake,” Mediawan Rights’ “Don’t Know,” Newen Connect’s “Montmartre” and Oble’s “Jailbreakers,” have been selected to demonstrate the diversity and innovation of French scripted TV.

Produced by CG Cinema, “Kitchen Hustle” turns on three women who dream of working in high-end dining but encounter an elitist,...

French TV festival and industry event Series Mania has unveiled the line-up for its 2025 edition, which runs from March 21-28 in Lille.

Apple TV+’s French-language drama series Carême about the world’s first celebrity chef from The Three Musketeers director Martin Bourboulon starring Benjamin Voisin will open the festival that will feature 26 world premieres and 12 international premieres from 19 countries including new territories Brazil and Algeria.

Nine series have been selected for the international festival competition.

These include Israeli-American series The German about the 1970s hunt for Nazi criminals and European co-production Kabul about the Western scramble in 2021 Afghanistan.

Family-focused...

French TV festival and industry event Series Mania has unveiled the line-up for its 2025 edition, which runs from March 21-28 in Lille.

Apple TV+’s French-language drama series Carême about the world’s first celebrity chef from The Three Musketeers director Martin Bourboulon starring Benjamin Voisin will open the festival that will feature 26 world premieres and 12 international premieres from 19 countries including new territories Brazil and Algeria.

Nine series have been selected for the international festival competition.

These include Israeli-American series The German about the 1970s hunt for Nazi criminals and European co-production Kabul about the Western scramble in 2021 Afghanistan.

Family-focused...

Amanda Seyfried and Happy Valley alums James Norton and Sally Wainwright will be adding a dose of star power to this year’s Series Mania, while Pamela Adlon is to head up the jury.

Seyfried will attend promoting her Peacock series Long Bright River, which is having its French premiere in the international competition. In Long Bright River, which is based on the Liz Moore novel, Seyfried plays a Philadelphian police officer who works in a neighborhood with high drug use where a series of murders take place.

Long Bright River is in the international competition alongside the likes of Cooper Raiff’s Hal & Harper, with Raiff set to attend, Joe Wright’s Mussolini: Son Of The Century and Israel-America’s The German from Yes Studios.

The jury for these shows will be led by Emmy winner and Better Things star Pamela Adlon. The jury will consist of Victor Le Masne...

French festival Series Mania has revealed its lineup, featuring Joe Wright’s “Mussolini: Son of the Century,” “Querer,” a huge hit at San Sebastián, “Empathy” and “Hal & Harper.”

Amanda Seyfried will present “Long Bright River,” while Pamela Adlon is set to deliver a masterclass. Adlon will also preside over the International Competition jury.

Denmark’s “Generations” will celebrate its world premiere at the fest, as well as “Kabul,” “The Deal” and “The German.”

In the International Panorama Competition, Trine Dyrholm will introduce “The Danish Woman.” She’ll be joined by other world premieres “A Life’s Worth,” “Raul Seixas: Let Me Sing” and “Reunion”. “Requiem for Selina,” “At the End of the Night,” “Celeste,” “Family Matters” and “Putain” will also be shown, as well as “What it Feels Like for a Girl.”

Among other highlights, “Carême” (Apple TV+) starring Jérémie Rénier and Lyna Khoudri, will open the festival. “Hpi” will close it,...

Today, Apple TV+ shared a first look at Carême, the upcoming French-language drama starring César Award winner Benjamin Voisin, César Award nominee Jérémie Renier, César Award winner Lyna Khoudri and Alice Da Luz.

The series is directed by acclaimed filmmaker Martin Bourboulon. Carême will make its global debut on Apple TV+ on April 30, 2025, with the first two episodes, followed by one episode weekly every Wednesday through June 11, 2025.

Carême follows the thrilling story of the world’s first celebrity chef, Antonin Carême (Voisin), who rose from humble beginnings in Paris to the height of culinary stardom in Napoleon’s Europe.

While he dreams only of becoming the most famous chef in the world, his talent and ambitions attract the attention of renowned and powerful politicians who use him as a spy for France.

Determined to escape poverty and fulfill his dream, Carême can choose revenge, or he can have it all — women,...

M. Son of the Century, which premieres on Sky in the U.K. on Feb. 4, covers a span of time in the life of Benito Mussolini, the founder of fascism. It ranges from his early years, when he was still a journalist who had just left the Socialist Party, to the murder, by Mussolini’s fascist forces, of socialist politician Giacomo Matteotti, a killing that helped pave his rise to power. Italian star Luca Marinelli (The Old Guard, The Eight Mountains) embodies the infamous populist in the new series, adapted by screenwriters Stefano Bises and Davide Serino from Antonio Scurati’s historical novel. British filmmaker Joe Wright (Atonement, Darkest Hour), who knows his way around a historical epic, directs.

The dark and handsome Marinelli underwent a complete transformation, to play the brutish, balding Mussolini. He is unrecognizable. Throughout the 8-episode series, the Italian actor constantly breaks the fourth wall, speaking directly to the audience.

As expected, Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux will make its debut in competition at the Venice Film Festival.

The Venice Film Festival line-up was announced earlier today. We won’t bore you with the entire list of the titles on show – you can find that here. But suffice it to say, the line-up is full of indie darlings as well as plenty of mainstream filmmakers bringing their latest projects to the world’s oldest film festival.

One of the biggest titles heading to the Lido is Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux. In 2019, Joker won the Golden Lion to everyone’s surprise, starting the film’s unlikely but hugely successful awards run which culminated in two Oscars.

The sequel is debuting in the festival’s prestige competition line-up, meaning it’s up for the Golden Lion again. If it were to win it, it would be the first time...

Viaplay Results: Focus On Core Ops Working Slowly

Viaplay’s focus on doing what it does best willed out in its latest quarterly results, with total turnover down slightly but turnover in core operations increasing by a similar margin. Since the exit of former CEO Anders Jensen amidst financial turmoil last year, the Scandi outfit has been focused on making far less original content and supercharging sports rights. Today, Q2 turnover was shown to have declined a smidgeon to SEK4.49B ($424M), while core turnover rose by a similar amount to SEK4.29B. In further signs of green shoots a year on from Jensen’s departure, operating income, while still in the red, was only minus SEK70M, compared to minus SEK273M in Q2 2023. Jensen’s replacement as CEO, Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, said “our focused focused work to retransform Viaplay Group is progressing, with substantial changes being made across the business,...

Sky Italia celebrated its 20-year anniversary on Tuesday by announcing a rich slate of upcoming originals, including a second season of the Italian adaptation of “Call My Agent,” which will see “The White Lotus” star Sabrina Impacciatore joining the cast.

Impacciatore’s agent is Gersh and her management is Mgmt.

The Sky Italia originals slate comprises previously announced high-end drama “M. Son of the Century” by British director Joe Wright, alongside less lavish shows in various stages – most of which have international potential. It underscores how the Italian unit of the Comcast-owned pay-tv service continues to be a major Italian industry driver.

While Sky’s German unit, which is believed to be up for sale, has put production on pause, Sky Italia is cranking out Italian originals through the platform’s Sky Studios unit at a steady pace, showing no signs of a slowdown.

“We are at the level...

Nicola Maccanico with Anne-Katrin Titze on current Cinecittà productions: “Joe Wright, Roland Emmerich and Luca Guadagnino.” Photo: Sally Fischer

I met with Nicola Maccanico to discuss the significant expansion of Cinecittà Studios under his leadership on the morning of the Open Roads: New Italian Cinema luncheon at The Leopard at des Artistes, attended by The Hummingbird (Il Colibrì) director Francesca Archibugi, Tommaso Ragno, Margherita Mazzucco (star of Susanna Nicchiarelli's Chiara and Saverio Costanzo’s My Brilliant Friend), directors Michele Vannucci (Delta), Niccolo Falsetti (Margins), Monica Dugo, and Fireworks (Stranizza d’Amuri)) director Giuseppe Fiorello with his stars Gabriele Pizzurro and Samuele Segreto.

Nicola Maccanico on Luca Guadagnino: “Bones and All! His last movie, I think is a masterpiece.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Inside Film at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater, Nicola joined me for a conversation on the robust state of Italian cinema and the current international productions going on at Cinecittà,...

Apple TV+ will be tapping into France’s lavish culinary heritage with “Carême,” a new original series about the world’s first celebrity chef, Antonin Carême, which will be directed by Martin Bourboulon (“The Three Musketeers: d’Artagnan”).

Set in the 19th century, the eight-episode French drama will chart the sprawling story of Carême, who rose from humble beginnings in Paris to the height of culinary stardom in Napoleon’s Europe. He not only became an iconic chef, he also became a spy for France as his talent and ambitions attracted the attention of powerful politicians, including Napoleon. The series will shed light on the miserable reality of 19th century kitchens, contrasting with the opulence of the mansions and sophisticated of aristocrats.

“Carême” will be led by a starry French cast, including Benjamin Voisin, the Cesar-winning actor of “Lost Illusions” and “Summer of 85″ in the title role. Voisin will star opposite...

British director Joe Wright, who helmed Winston Churchill drama “Darkest Hour” – which earned Gary Oldman an Oscar for his portrayal as the British prime minister – has now changed historical sides.

Wright is at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios shooting high-end TV drama “M. Son of the Century” which chronicles Benito Mussolini’s rise to power. A timely tale because, as he puts it: “Populist leaders are sprouting up all over the world.”

Aesthetically, the show will be “quite outlandish” with deeply saturated colors, punctuated by a “kind of techno score,” the director said during a recent set visit. Though “It’s not told in a vérité style,” Wright pointed out that “All the facts of what happened, they’re all there.”

Luca Marinelli plays Mussolini during the period between 1919, when he founded the fascist party in Italy, and 1925 when – having gained power with the 1922 March on Rome – Mussolini made an infamous...

The camera pans upwards. We see a balcony and a sliver of a window. A voice calls “Action!” Luca Marinelli emerges, dressed as Benito Mussolini. He looks down on the street below. Suddenly, he turns to the camera and speaks directly to the audience, the image of charm and seduction: “I’ve always loved dogs,” he quips.

This scene sums up the essence of M. Son of the Century, the new eight-episode limited series, directed by Joe Wright (Atonement, Darkest Hour) and produced by Sky Studios and Lorenzo Mieli’s Fremantle-owned The Apartment Pictures, in collaboration with Pathé and Small Forward. The series may be, as Nils Hartmann, executive vp of Sky Studios Italy and Germany says, repeatedly, the “largest and most ambitious” project the Comcast-owned studio is working on, but what stands out is the show’s unique tone and rhythm. The story of the rise of...

Speaking at a panel organized by Series Mania’s Forum, executives from Sky Studios touted flexibility and autonomy as their keys to success, teasing further synergies with fellow Comcast-owned services like Peacock and SkyShowtime while emphasizing that such broadcast bids were but one option among many.

“[We take things] very case-by-case,” said Meghan Lyvers, director of original drama at Sky Studios U.K. “Not all projects that we develop as Sky Originals in Europe will go into the SkyShowtime cluster of territories, [but] they can. And we [welcome] this flexibility, because it allows projects to come to us with other territories attached.”

Prompted by Variety’s Manori Ravindran, and flanked onstage by colleagues Nils Hartmann, Tobias Rosen and Sonia Rovai from Sky Studios Germany and Italy, Lyvers accented Sky Studios’ wider commissioning activities, saying: “This is the team that develops, commissions, or buys series, and then [either] makes or programs them on Sky as Sky Originals.

Exclusive: HBO is developing a series adaptation of nonfiction book Empty Mansions, about a wealthy recluse.

The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned premium network is working on the project with The Ticket filmmaker Ido Fluk, Atonement and Darkest Hour director Joe Wright and The Mosquito Coast producer Fremantle.

The story follows Huguette Clark, an elderly, fabulously wealthy recluse who is hospitalized for a number of seemingly minor ailments and a series of events is set into motion regarding her fortune and an unsigned will.

Fluk will write and exec produce, Wright will direct the potential pilot and exec produce alongside Fremantle.

At the Rtl-owned producer and distributor, the project comes from Dante Di Loreto, President of Scripted Programming in the U.S. Di Loreto, in fact, previously worked closely with Ryan Murphy, exec producing series including Glee and American Horror Story. Murphy had optioned the book back in 2014, a year after it was published.

Italian actor Luca Marinelli, who was seen recently in Cannes Jury Prize winner The Eight Mountains, will play Benito Mussolini in Joe Wright’s upcoming series M. Son Of The Century.

The eight-part drama, based on Italian historian and writer Antonio Scurati’s bestselling book M charting the rise of the fascist dictator, starts filming in Rome’s Cinecittà studios this week.

The casting was announced at a presentation of the drama at the Rome Film Festival on Tuesday.

A former Berlinale European Shooting Star, Marinelli won Venice’s Coppa Volpi for best actor in 2020 for his performance in Pietro Marcello’s Jack London adaptation Martin Eden. Other notable credits include They Call Me Jeeg for which he won Italy’s Davide Di Donatello in 2016.

His most recent role was in Belgian director Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandemeersch’s Italian-language drama The Eight Mountains, about the life-long friendship of...

M. Son Of The Century is based on Antonio Scurati’s bestselling novel of the same name.

Sky has ordered an eight-part drama chronicling the rise and fall of Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini from My Brilliant Friend indie The Apartment.

M. Son Of The Century is based on Antonio Scurati’s bestselling novel of the same name and will cover the establishment of Fasci Italiani in 1919 through to Mussolini’s parliamentary speech, following the murder of socialist MP Giacomo Matteotti in 1925.

The Italian-language series will also delve into Mussolini’s personal relationships, including with his wife Rachel, his mistress...