Series Mania 5: Taking TV to the Big Screen

Imagine going to Paris to watch television! For some, such a impious prospect will make perfect sense over the coming week.

Nowadays, most of us know that TV drama is the new cinema; actors love it because they can get their thespian teeth into meatier roles, writers have a broader and more diverse canvas to write great TV novels, and audiences can go episode by episode or binge watch as their fancy takes them. Top-notch directors from Martin Scorsese, to David Fincher, to Danny Boyle are prime movers in the revived game.

Scandinavians are having a field day; Israelis are innovating. Cable and Internet technology has played its role: HBO was the original champion of this renewal, now joined by Netflix, Orange, Microsoft and hosts of others. Everybody is winning and the quality just gets better by the year.

So it's perfectly normal that Paris, the capital of world cinema, from 22nd - 30th April should be presenting the 5th edition of Series Mania at the Forum des Images in the centre of the city. It is a unique event where we get to see previews of first and second episodes of top drawer TV series from around the world as well as meet their creators, the famous show runners of legend.

The opening night screening is episodes 1 and 2 of True Detective, a totally original contemporary take on a classic genre, and a series that has already gone cult stateside. It stars Matthew McConnaughey and Woody Harrelson and was created by Nick Pizzolatto, who will attend and also give a public interview / master class the day after.

Other US series include the American adaptation of The Bridge, new series Ray Donovan whose job it is to clean up Hollywood scandals, The Red Road, The Walking Dead Series 4, and many more.

Highlights from the UK include, Danny Boyles's Babylon and the new cult series Black Mirror. Peaky Blinders will also screen two episodes and in the Marathon Screenings section, Southcliffe will have the opportunity to thrill those who go to the cinema to watch TV on a big screen.

There will also be new French series and international comedy marathons, many offering Q & As with the creators, actors and producers, as well as panel discussions dealing with the dilemmas and opportunities of this born again phenomenon.

Given the increasing desire and need to collaborate to reach international audiences, there is an EU funded co-production Forum where selected projects get to pitch and discuss their embryonic series to TV channels from across Europe. Other countries with series represented at Series Mania include Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, South Korea, Denmark, Norway and Russia and more.

The closing series will be Gomorra from Italy, which is inspired, as the Cannes prizewinning film was already, by Roberto Saviano's ground-breaking book about the Neapolitan mafia.

For all the details check out the official site.

Séamas McSwiney is a film journalist with decades of experience and work published in some top international publications. Read more of his posts here.

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