Polish drama and UK hit among winners in Lille as event reveals record attendance
HBO Max’s Polish series Proud won the International Competition grand prize at the 2026 Series Mania festival that wrapped at Friday’s closing ceremony (March 27) in Lille, France.
Ignacy Liss took home the best actor prize for his role as young gay man who spends his life partying until a family tragedy leads him to become the caregiver for his sister’s baby. Proud was created by Karol Klementewicz and the producers are TVN Warner Bros Discovery and Magnolia Films.
Amanda Jansson was named best actress for Swedish series My Brother.
UK dramas triumphed with several awards including best screenplay for Dennis Kelly for the BBC’s Waiting For The Out, about a philosophy teacher working in a prison. BBC fantasy-tinged comedy Small Prophets was named best series in the International Panorama section where Lauren Patel earned the best actress prize.
Also taking home prizes in International Panorama were best director Arne Feldhussen for ZDF’s German series The Flaws, and best actor Maxime Le Flaguais for Canada’s Welcome To Kingston-Falls.
It was also a big night for French media powerhouse Federation Studios, whose Australian import Dustfall (Australia’s ABC TV, BBC, ZDF) earned the audience award for best series.
The company is also selling All Shapes Of Us from creator Fanny Riedberger, which centres on teenagers at a boarding school for youngsters with eating disorders and won the best series award in the French Competition. Riedberger produced the show via her label Habanita Federation and TF1 will distribute in France.
HBO French production Privileges starring Manon Bresch and Melvil Poupaud explores the power struggles at a luxury Parisian hotel and won best score for Amine Bouhafa. Best actress went to Manon Kneusé for Arte’s Camarades, and Karim Leklou won best actor for Arte/ RTBF series Eldorado set in the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis. The show’s producer Alex Berger of TOP-The Originals Productions told Broadcast International sister title Screen: “Series Mania has become the series festival, so having been in the official selection was a great victory in itself and an award will lead to more sales – it’s a win-win for all.”
Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson presided over the International Competition jury alongside actors Cécile de France, Hatik and Alice Braga, UK writer-director-producer Luke Watson, and Iranian director Ida Penahandeh, who did not attend due to the ongoing war in Iran.
Prior to the ceremony Erlingsson told Screen: “This was an incredibly interesting journey for me and all of us on the jury. We got a sneak peek into many interesting shows and we think we have chosen shows that will fly and find audiences.”
The director’s own series, six-part drama The Danish Woman, premiered in the festival’s competition at last year’s edition and while it did not win awards on that occasion, it has sold widely for The Party Film Sales to European broadcasters including ZDF-Arte, SVT, DR, and Filmin. Erlingsson added: “As it happens, some gems for some strange reason are not able to earn a prize, but are still successful.”
Numbers up
Organisers reported that approximately 112,000 people attended the 2026 edition (including Series Mania Festival events), up from 108,000 last year.
On the Forum side, 5,200 professionals from 75 countries participated - up from around 4,500 attendees from 70 countries in 2025 - while a record 97 exhibitors packed into Lille’s Grand Palais.
Festival founder and general manager Laurence Herszberg said the winners confirm the trends she and her selection committees observed heading into the event, namely “the strong presence of the United Kingdom and the quality of Polish series, both awarded three times, as well as the notable presence of Quebec.”
Herszberg also commended wins for “two fully-female teams in their creation, production, and direction: My Brother and Dustfall.”
Next year’s festival will run 19–26 March and the parallel Forum has been set for 23-25 March.
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