Movie Channels
Series Mania announces festival winners
Mumbai: With Series Mania 2023 coming to a close, Series Mania founder and general director Laurence Herszberg announced the winners of the Series Mania Festival, and the final number of participants on 24 March.
“We would first like to thank the public and the professionals who attended this edition, which brought together more than 85,000 participants for the Festival and 3,800 participants from 64 countries for the Forum. We are delighted to announce our prize list and figures that have far exceeded our expectations”, commented Herszberg.
The Winners:
International Competition:
The international jury, chaired by the American showrunner, screenwriter and producer Lisa Joy, surrounded by Emmanuelle Béart (actress, France), Anurag Kashyap (director, India), Chris Chibnall (showrunner, UK), Judah Levi (actor, Israel), Lou Doillon (singer, France), awarded 4 prizes among the 9 series presented in world or international premiere in the presence of their teams.
Grand Prize : The Actor (Iran)
Best Actress: Margot Bancilhon in Haven of Grace (France)
Best Actor: Michael Sheen in Best Interests (UK)
Best Writing: John Kâre Raake for The Fortresss (Norway)
International Panorama:
The International Panorama, presided over by the French writer Hervé Le Tellier, surrounded by Lone Korslund (Creative Director, producer, Denmark), Assa Sylla (actress, France), Hugo Bardin (actor, France), Jandiz Cardoso (Director Episodic Program, Sundance Institute, USA), Lila Byock (screenwriter, USA ) awarded 4 prizes among the 12 series presented in French, European, and world previews.
Best Series: Blackwater (Sweden)
Best Directing: Ernesto Contreras for Tengo que morir todas las noches (Mexico)
Best Actress: Rotem Sela and Gal Malka in A Body That Works (Israel)
Best Actor: Eran Naim in Innermost (Germany-Israel)
Student award for Best Series : Funny Woman (UK)
French competition:
The international press jury composed of Ariana Finos (La Repubblica, Italy), Enric Albero (El Cultural, Spain), Hanna Huge (serienjunkies.de, Germany), Adrian Hennigan (Haaretz, Israel) and Ashanti Omkar (BBC, UK) awarded 4 prizes among the 6 French series presented in World Premiere in the presence of their teams
Best Series: Under Control
Best Actress: Clémentine Célarié in Six women
Best Actor: Carel Brown in Aspergirl
Best Original Score: Maud Geffray, Rebeka Warrior for Split
Short Forms Competition:
This competition is awarded by an international jury chaired by US creator, writer and producer Sam Shaw with Madison Walsh (screenwriter, Canada), Jérémy Gillet (actor, Belgium) and Charlotte Abramow (photographer and director, Belgium).
Best Series: Autodefensa (Spain)
Comedies Competition:
Best Series by a high school students Jury of the Hauts-de-France: Rictus (France)
Public Award:
This prize is awarded to the audience’s favorite series among all the titles in competition – except for Short Formats, voted on at the end of the screenings.
Best Series: Little Bird (Canada)
With more than 3,800 participants from 64 countries, this successful and vibrant edition of Series Mania Forum brought together more international industry professionals than ever before to Lille. New participants attending for the first time included Arab Emirates, Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, Iran, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Turkey and Uruguay. With the Forum now concluded, key conferences, keynotes, and pitching sessions from the week are available on demand at Series Mania+.
Movie Channels
Zee5 launches five free FAST channels on Samsung TV Plus India
New genre-led channels bring comedy, drama, horror, classics and South films to Smart TVs.
MUMBAI: Zee5 just turned Samsung Smart TVs into a free entertainment buffet because when premium content costs nothing, even the remote control starts smiling. Zee5 has launched five curated free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels on Samsung TV Plus India, making high-quality, genre-specific entertainment available subscription-free to millions of Samsung Smart TV owners across the country.
The five channels now live are:
Zee Comedy Nation – Popular comedy shows and movies
Zee Dil Se – Compelling drama series
ZEE Horror Nights – Horror and supernatural content
ZEE Cine Classic – Timeless Indian films
ZEE South Flix – High-energy South Indian films dubbed in Hindi
All content is drawn from Zee5’s extensive library and programmed in a lean-back, always-on format ideal for large-screen viewing. This launch strengthens Zee5’s Connected TV strategy at a time when 64 per cent of its premium content watch time already comes from connected devices.
Zee5 chief business officer Siju Prabhakaran said, “At Zee5, we believe accessibility and scale will define the next phase of digital entertainment growth in India. Our presence on Samsung TV Plus strengthens our Connected TV strategy, enabling viewers to discover curated, genre-led content in a seamless, free, and premium environment.”
Samsung TV Plus India head of partnerships Kunal Mehta added, “Local partnerships are at the heart of how we grow Samsung TV Plus in India. Zee Entertainment is one of India’s most iconic media brands, and bringing their channels to our service means millions more Samsung Smart TV owners can enjoy premium local content, subscription-free.”
The channels are available directly through the pre-installed Samsung TV Plus app with no login or subscription required. This marks another milestone in Zee5’s CTV expansion and builds on its growing international presence, with Zee channels already available on Samsung TV Plus across Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
In a streaming world where paywalls often block the fun, Zee5 and Samsung have quietly opened the gates, proving that sometimes the best things in life (and on your TV) really are free especially when they come with a side of comedy, drama, horror, classics and South Indian blockbuster energy.
