SERIESMAKERS unveils three winners

Today, the creative initiative SERIESMAKERS, led by prestigious Series Mania Forum and supported by European content powerhouse Beta Group, announced the three winning projects of its second edition.
 
The two Beta Development Awards (€ 50,000 each) go to:
 
GEORGE BLAKE by director Kevin Macdonald and producer Femke Wolting
(6x52’, United Kingdom/The Netherlands)
What makes a person turn against everything they ever stood for? The untold true story of one of the most prolific double agents of not just the Cold War, but British history, George Blake.
Kevin Macdonald’s THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND (2007) won an Oscar® in the category Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role and multiple BAFTA’s, among others. His documentary ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER (1999) won an Oscar® for Best Documentary Feature.
 
THE SQUATTER by director Erik Matti and producer Ronald Monteverde
(8x52’, The Philippines)
A dead body in a rural town. A fraudulent London charity. An East-meets-West crime story. With their hopes and futures at stake, a secretive Filipino maid and a tenacious Ukrainian detective have to unravel the mysteries of a crime just as the crime itself unravels who they truly are.
Erik Matti’s ON THE JOB 2: THE MISSING 8 (2021) was nominated for Best Film at Venice Film Festival and won in the category Best Actor at Venice Film Festival.
 
The Kirch Foundation in collaboration with HFF (University of Television and Film Munich) Award (€ 20,000) goes to:
 
SLEEPING SWANS by director Barbara Albert, writer Ulrike Tony Vahl and producer Martina Haubrich
(8x52’, Germany)
In a coastal town in Eastern Germany, idyll turns into a sinister nightmare when children inexplicably fall into a mysterious condition. Renowned expert Ellen Lennardsson is called in to decipher the secret. In a desperate race against time, she fights against inexplicable forces and the insurmountable resistance of the community. As the number of affected children rises unstoppably, Ellen uncovers a sinister conspiracy encompassing not only the supernatural, but also the darker side of human nature.
Barbara Albert’s NORDRAND (1999) was nominated for the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival. FREE RADICAL (2003) was nominated for the Golden Leopard at Locarno International Film Festival and MADEMOISELLE PARADIS (2017) was nominated at Toronto International Film Festival, among others.
 
The recipients of this year’s Beta Development Award will work closely with Beta’s Content Division, led by CCO Koby Gal Raday, to develop the pilot script and a full package.
 
The creative initiative SERIESMAKERS is headed by Laurence Herszberg, General Director of Series Mania, and Koby Gal Raday, Chief Content Officer of Beta Group.