Here’s one of the most notable award wins in a minute: Kyrgyzstan drama Red Pants has won the influential Co-Pro Pitching Sessions event at Series Mania.
The show, from Studio Oymo and Human Films, will receive a €50,000 ($58,000) prize after defeating 15 other projects for the award, which was the founding premise of the entire Series Mania conference.
Also landing wins at Series Mania are French series R91, which won the Series Mania Buyers Upfront yesterday, and Canada’s Chachachá!, which took home the SeriesMakers Award, which is handed out in association with Series Mania Institute.
Ten-part series Red Pants is an action drama set in late 1970s Soviet Kyrgyzstan. It follows Aisha, a military officer’s daughter, who forms the notorious ‘Red Pants’ first female criminal gang to avenge her father’s death and challenge the oppressive regime.
Tilek Cherikov is the writer and the producers are Erke Dzhumakmatova for Studio Oymo, Co-Producer Pavel Feldman & Alexander Seliverstov for Human Films.
The Co-Pro Pitching Sessions are considered among the most important elements of the Series Mania Forum, and often showcases projects from little-known international drama-producing countries such as Kyrgyzstan. The previous winners have hailed from the likes of Slovakia and Ukraine.
R91 becomes the second winner of the Series Mania Buyers Upfront. The thriller series out of France follows nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91), which sets sail on a strategic mission, only for crew member to be found dead and another missing. Military investigator Paul Fischer and his second-in-command Helena Duval are rushed aboard to solve the mystery.
Next Episode is the producer and SND Groupe M6 has international sales rights.
The SeriesMaker Award winner, Chachachá!, is an eight-part series out of Canada from writer-director Alison Fairweather Murray and Nice Picture! producer Jennifer Weiss.
The Series Mania Forum continues today and ends tomorrow following the Lille Dialogues sessions, which run throughout the day.
