Series Mania 2023: Michael Sheen, Margot Bancilhon Take Top Acting Prizes
The Iranian series The Actor from director Nima Javidi picked up the top Grand Prize jury award at Series Mania, the international TV festival that wrapped in Lille, France on Friday night.
The drama from Iran is led by the Venice best actor winner Navid Mohammadzadeh and follows two down and out actors struggling to make ends meet as they run a derelict theater in Tehran with wealthy Iranians as patrons.
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The international jury, led by screenwriter and producer Lisa Joy, also gave its best actor trophy to Michael Sheen for his performance the U.K. series Best Interests, while the best actress prize went to Margot Mancilhon for her star turn in the French series Haven of Grace.
The Series Mania international jury also gave the best writing trophy to John Kâre Raake for The Fortress series from Norway.
In other prize giving, the International Panorama jury, led by French writer Herve Le Tellier, gave its best series trophy to the Swedish TV series Blackwater, about four random people’s lives converging after two tourists are found murdered in a tent.
The best actress prize in the Panorama competition was shared by Rotem Sela and Gal Malka for their performances in the Israeli surrogacy drama A Body That Works. The best actor trophy went to Eran Naim for his star turn in Innermost, the German-Israeli drama from director Yaron Shani that captures intersecting lives in Tel Aviv.
Elsewhere, the best directing prize went to Ernesto Contreras for the Mexican series Tengo Que Morir Modas las Noches, which follows a young generation of Mexicans discovering new sexual freedoms.
The award-giving in Lille included the Canadian indigenous drama Little Bird winning the Series Mania Public Award for the best TV series voted on by the festival’s audiences. The six-part series was created and showrun by Jennifer Podemski.
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