Ukrainian drama ‘Unspoken’ & Belgium-Uruguay series ‘Invisible Ink’ among Series Mania winners

Unspoken

Ukrainian drama Unspoken has been picked as the winner of the Best Project Award here at Series Mania Forum in Lille.

The 6 x 30-minute show, which has been written by Zhanna Ozirna and Filip Syczyński, is a war thriller based on current events in Ukraine and tells the story of a man who is trying to save his family from the grave danger of the Russian invasion.

It has been produced by Dmytro Sukhanov, Toy Cinema, 2Brave Productions, Natalia Libet and Anna Rożalska, alongside Match&Spark from Poland.

Sukhanov, Libet and Rożalska picked up the €50,000 ($50,000) prize, with Channel 4 drama chief Caroline Hollick describing the show as a “powerful, relateable tale”.

“The winning project united the judges unanimously with the raw, emotional intensity of the storytelling,” she added.

Series Mania Forum’s annual Co-Pro Pitching Sessions featured 15 projects that were selected and pitched on the first day of the Lille-based event.

Seriesmakers trio revealed

The winners of Series Mania Forum’s Seriesmakers creative initiative, which is supported by Beta Group, have also been unveiled with a second edition now in the works.

The two Beta Development Awards (€50,000 each) have been awarded to Finnish show Yours, Margot by director Juho Kuosmanen and producer Jussi Rantamäki, and Belgium-Uruguay series The Invisible Ink, from director César Díaz and producer Fernando Epstein.

The former follows a woman’s journey as she discovers her father’s letters to an unknown lover, while The Invisible Ink tracks a former Uruguayan revolutionary who must travel back to the country to confront his past.

The teams behind the two shows will work closely with Beta’s content division, led by CCO Koby Gal Raday, to develop the pilot script and a full package. They will then be invited to Series Mania’s Forum 2024 to present their projects to the industry’s most influential decision-makers, broadcasters, platforms, co-producers, and financiers.

Elsewhere, the Kirch Foundation in collaboration with HFF (University of Television and Film Munich) award (€20,000) was won by Brazilian drama Amigas, from director Beatriz Seigner and writer Maíra Bühler.

It follows five high school girl friends who meet in their 40’s. The encounter triggers a traumatic experience they lived together as teenagers and which they will need to face in order to free themselves in the present.