EXCLUSIVE: Seriesly Berlin‘s second edition will include at least five premieres and panels on everything from power, the fashion of The White Lotus and the production of Drops of Gods.
The premieres, which will take place in the German capital between September 15-18 will comprise Eve’s Rib (La Costilla de Eva) from Colombia, House of Bellevue from Germany, Kazakh Scary Tales from Kazakhstan, Oh, Otto! from Belgium and Sanajiit (Inuit Makers) from Canada.
Speakers will include designer Be Inthavong, who led the costume design in the latest season of The White Lotus, Walt disney Germany original production boss Benjamina Mirnik-Voges and Drops of God exec producer Klaus Zimmermann.
Seriesly, which will be holding its second edition at the Fotografiska Berlin, has attempted to carve out a niche in the European conference and festival world by taking a challenging approach to panels and premieres in a bid to ignite conversations around industry topics in new ways.
As for the premieres, Eve’s Rib is set in a Colombian city haunted by a serial killer targeting homosexuals, following a group young people exploring their sexuality amid fear and prejudice. It is from Colombian Television and produced by Cóncavo Films, and James Camargo de Alba is the director.
House of Bellevue follows 19-year-old Emiel as he escapes a small town to immerse himself in Berlin’s dazzling ballroom scene and looks at themes of identity, chosen family and queer love. Florence Kasumba, Komi M. Togbonou, Ricco-Jarret Boateng, Nora Henes, Abed Haddad, Kawian Paigal, Ilonka Petruschka, Robin Kadet, Lie Ning and Binta Yaffa star in the series, which is for German net ZDFneo and comes from Don’t Panic Films.
Kazakh Scary Tales follows investigator Birzhan, who, desperate for a promotion, takes on on cold cases from remote villages shrouded in mystery. Though he doesn’t believe in the supernatural, elders whisper of an ancient curse in one village where infants are disappearing. Adilkhan Yerzhanov is the director and Freedom Media produced in-house for its streaming service.
Streamz drama Oh, Otto! follows a charming and somewhat clumsy 26-year-old, who navigates heartbreak and identity in the the vibrant queer community after a five-year relationship ends. Eyeworks Film & TV Drama produced the series, with Stijn van Kerkhoven the director and Jonathan Michiels and Jennifer Heylen leading the cast.
Sanajiit (Inuit Makers) is a 13-part doc series that explores the daily lives and creative worlds of Inuit “Makers” in Nunavut, using a slow TV approach. Uvagut TV is the broadcaster and Isuma TV the producer, with Susan Avingaq, Gabriela Gamez, Carol Kunnuk directing.
Industry panels
On the panels front, which take place September 17-18, White Lotus designer Inthavong will appear in a ‘Dressed To Impress: Fashion as a Narrative Force’ session that will explore how designers and fashion brands use TV as creative platforms, how product placement becomes cultural currency and how series benefit from collaborating with the fashion world.
A state-of-the-union-style session, ‘Storytelling 2030: Who Pays, Who Plays? Power, platform, and the Price of Creativity in a Changing World’ will feature the likes of Mirnik-Voges, the VP Original Production at The Walt Disney Company Germany and Sabine de Mard, President of Gaumont Germany.
Held in partnership with the Göteborg Film Festival’s TV Drama Vision track, ‘Nordic-German Co-Producing’ will feature Miira Paasilinna, the COO of Anagram Group and Managing Director of Anagram Sweden, who has produced and sold international productions such as Disney+’s first Nordic original To Cook a Bear.
‘Beyond the Usual Suspects: Reinventing Co-Productions’ will see Drops of God co-producer Zimmermann from Dynamic TV explaining how the International Emmy-winning Apple TV+ series brought together partners from Japan and France. Rahul Patel, Principal Analyst at Ampere Analysis, will add data outlining market realities.
Elsewhere, in what will likely be an emotive moment, Seriesly is pushing the boat out with a panel titled ‘Stories for Tomorrow: How Collaborative Palestinian and Israeli Writing Transforms Television’. Held in partnership with Albi, a New York-based fund that backs Israeli and Palestinian creators, the session will see creatives from both countries discussing how collaborative storytelling can reshape how identities are portrayed and understood. Actor-director Yousef Sweid (The Goat, Between the River and the Sea), Non-Issue co-creators Nayef Hammoud and Gal Rosenbluth, program director Keren Michael, and Albi founder Libby Lenkinski will appear.
‘What The Heck Is A Queer Show?! Queerness in Mainstream TV’, meanwhile, will see Oh, Otto! director Kerkhoven looking at ongoing challenges in representations of queerness and is held in partnership with Queer Media Society, while ‘Building Fear That Stays With You: How Horror Works in Episodes’ will see Turkish director, producer and writer Can Evrenol (Baskın) and German writer-director Till Kleinert (Der Samurai) discussing low dread, tension building and mythologies unfold uniquely in serialized storytelling.
There will also be a workshop series ranging from producer-focused sessions such as ‘Germany 2026: Film & Series Funding – Turning New Rules into Opportunities, and writer-centric sessions such as ‘Development Hell’ from screenwriter and creative producer Elena Lyubarskaya (Pauline).
“With this year’s program, we remain true to our mission of creating spaces for stories and themes that often have no place on other stages,” said Festival Director Dennis Ruh. “We want to bring forward voices and topics that are usually left unspoken. Seriesly Berlin aims to show the unexpected, to spark conversations, and to push the boundaries of storytelling.”
Seriesly Berlin is funded by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Fotografiska Berlin is a main partner and Deadline is the media partner.
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