Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald has won the €50,000 ($54,000) Series Mania Seriesmakers award.
The One Day in September director is one of two winners to take home the prize, which has been forged by the Lille Confab and German major Beta Film.
Macdonald and producer Femke Wolting’s project is titled George Blake and tells the story of one of the most prolific double agents of not just the Cold War, but British history. The other winner is director Erik Matti and producer Ronald Monteverde for The Squatter from The Philippines, about a secretive Filipino maid and a tenacious Ukrainian detective who have to unravel the mysteries of a crime just as the crime itself unravels who they truly are.
The development lab is for feature film directors sidestepping into series production. Ten projects faced off including those helmed by Kaouther Ben Hania, who directed the Oscar-nominated doc Four Daughters. The winners will work closely with Beta’s content division, led by CCO Koby Gal Raday, to develop the pilot script and a full package.
The €20,000 Kirch Foundation prize went to Sleeping Swans by director Barbara Albert, writer Ulrike Tony Vahl and producer Martina Haubrich.
Last year’s winners were Yours, Margot and The Invisible Ink.
Sam Spiegel winner
Meanwhile at Series Mania, the Israeli $22,000 development award from the Sam Spiegel Series Lab went to That Hole by Orit Fouks Rotem, Adi Goral; Batya Deil and Miri Milstein, produced by Maya Fisher for Green Productions.
“The jury loved the original concept of a hotline in an Orthodox community serving as a vehicle of women awakening and empowering,” said the jury. “A story about a conflict in a community, while the protagonist chooses to stay in it, despite the existential questions she confronts. We loved the respectful and compassionate attitude and the efficient and immersive pitch.”