ACMI and Film Victoria announce the return of Series Mania Melbourne

ACMI and Film Victoria to present dedicated festival to television with the return of Series Mania Melbourne!

Full free public screenings program revealed – Total Control to screen as Opening Night series

ACMI and Film Victoria in partnership with Series Mania France are thrilled to announce the return of Series Mania Melbourne – a free, 4-day event dedicated to shining the spotlight on television and its creatives – set to take place online across Australia from 14 -17 October.

Originating and held annually in France, Series Mania Melbourne is Australia’s edition of the world-renowned premiere festival of TV, with Melbourne the only city to host the festival outside of Europe.

With a program built around what is happening next in the TV landscape, we are delighted to unveil this year’s 11 series that form the full public screenings program. The festival will kick off with the first two episodes of the highly anticipated second season of Australian political drama Total Control, starring multi award-winning actors Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths which picks up where Senator Alex Irving’s (Mailman) crusade left off, as she vies to hold everyone to account. The remaining episodes are coming soon to the ABC in 2021.

Series Mania Melbourne offers Australian audiences access to free screenings and talks, premiering some of the best new drama, comedy, and web series from Australia and around the globe.

The festival also features a dedicated industry program through its Screen Industry Day on 14 October – a full day of craft focused panels, keynotes, and masterclasses with the world’s leading creators, showcasing Victoria as a global destination for screen, and Australia’s natural home of high-end TV. The Screen Industry Day program will be announced on 1 October.

ACMI and Film Victoria are proud to present the festival in Melbourne, with this year’s program going 100% online. The public screenings program will be available on ACMI’s Cinema 3, and the Screen Industry Day will be available via an online conference platform.

“Victoria is the creative state, with a strong screen industry and culture, and a proud track record in TV production. All this makes us the natural home for Series Mania’s only festival outside of Europe,” said Minister for Creative Industries Danny Pearson. "Series Mania Melbourne is about more than exploring the latest in local and international TV, through its industry day it also develops our screen sector and our next generation of talent.”

“Whether you’re a voracious consumer of television or a creator with a story idea to launch into the small-screen stratosphere, Series Mania Melbourne is the television event of the year for Victoria’s screen industry,” said Film Victoria CEO Caroline Pitcher. “We can’t wait to reveal this year’s mega line-up of talent from across the globe who will deliver a jam-packed program of talks and masterclasses for Screen Industry Day.”

“We are delighted to be partnering with Film Victoria to present this year’s Series Mania Melbourne, a festival dedicated to TV and the latest binge-worthy series,” said ACMI Director and CEO Katrina Sedgwick OAM: “With a rich and diverse program providing exclusive first access to some of the most anticipated and finest screen content from across the globe, it is wonderful to be opening this year’s festival with the premiere of highly anticipated second series of Australian political drama Total Control.

Highlights from the public screenings program include:

• Hellbound (South Korea) – direct from its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, this is the first live-action series from director Yeon Sang-ho and marks the highly anticipated follow-up to his Cannes favourite Train to Busan (2016) and its sequel Peninsula (2020)
• L’Opera (France), winner of the Best Actress Award at Series Mania France for star Ariane Labed’s (The Lobster, Trigonometry) performance in an immersive journey through Paris’ prestigious ballet company, told through the eyes of two dancers
• Preppers (Australia), a brand-new comedy series from writers/creators Nakkiah Lui and Gabriel Dowrick, which centres around a young Australian Aboriginal woman named Charlie (Nakkiah), who finds herself at the centre of a mismatched community of doomsday preppers – also starring Meyne Wyatt, Ursula Yovich and Jack Charles.

Further series screening in the program include:

• The Panthers (NZ), a limited series based on the true story of the Polynesian Panthers, that is an exquisite period drama that energises, illuminates, and riles up the rabble-rouser within
• Hamlet (Turkey), an adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic tale of betrayal and revenge, that shifts to modern-day Turkey
• Furia (Norway), a new Nordic-Noir crime series that explores the darkness lurking under the surface of an idyllic town in the fjords of western Norway
• Dark Soul (Canada), a limited series which follows a family mourning the loss of their son Jérémy in a high school shooting incident, as a quietly efficient coroner begins her inquest

Short form series screening in the program include:

• Happiness (Iran), a captivating tale of a teenage girl’s journey, as she embarks on a road trip across Iran with two friends and a stranger, in a van full of contraband wine
• Family Portrait (South Korea), featuring a colour palette and staging that would make Wes Anderson proud, in a hilariously fast-paced short-form series about a family navigating the complexities of their lives.
• Something Undone (Canada), a minimalistic chamber thriller, following a foley artist who while settling into her estranged mother’s estate, is consumed by a dark family secret

A limited number of streams for the public screening sessions will be available for pre booking for ACMI Members from 11am Tuesday 28 September. Bookings for public screening sessions will open to the public from 11am Wednesday 29 September. All events are free. Streaming numbers are limited and bookings are essential.

The free Screen Industry Day program will be released on 1 October.

Netflix Australia is a proud Supporting Partner of Series Mania Melbourne, committed to championing local talent and production.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Series Mania Melbourne takes place online at ACMI from 14 – 17 October. Bookings for the public screenings open 29 September, bookings for the screen industry program open from 1 October. To access visit acmi.net.au

ABOUT ACMI
ACMI is Australia’s national museum of screen culture. The museum reopened in February after a two-year, $40 million redevelopment – an architectural, programmatic and technological transformation. The new ACMI is Australia’s first truly multiplatform museum. Navigate the universe of film, TV, videogames and art with us. ACMI celebrates the wonder and power of the world’s most democratic artform – fostering the next generation of makers, players and watchers. ACMI’s vibrant calendar of exhibitions, screenings, commissions, festivals, and industry and education programs explore the stories, technologies and artists that create our shared screen culture. More at acmi.net.au

ABOUT FILM VICTORIA

Based in Melbourne, Australia, Film Victoria is the Victorian State Government agency that provides strategic leadership and assistance to the film, television and digital media sectors of the state of Victoria. Film Victoria’s role is to ensure Victoria is a global powerhouse for screen that enriches the lives of all Victorians. The agency does this in a range of ways: through funding the production and development of screen content, supporting skills development opportunities including industry placements, attracting production to the state, location assistance, industry events and partnership activities, all which help develop and strengthen the Victorian screen industry. For more information visit film.vic.gov.au

ABOUT SERIES MANIA FRANCE

Based in Lille since 2018, Series Mania has become the biggest event dedicated uniquely to television series in Europe. Its festival offers exclusive world premieres of the greatest international series on the big screen, giving its audience – up to 72,000 spectators – 9 days of discoveries, parties and masterclasses with some of the most renowned personalities in the series world.