Jury of the best CEE series (2021)
Program sections (click to view individual series):
Main Competition: This year’s Serial Killer Main Competition is truly packed. We will screen The Family, a miniseries about Slobodan Milošević’s last days before arrest, and the Russian comedy hit Chicks, which has earned the ire of both the conservative press and defenders of traditional family who wish to see it banned. Czech series featured this year will include Suspicion, a chilling, focused drama by Štěpán Hulík, the writer behind Burning Bush and Wasteland. The six series in the main competition represent a selection of the best of Central and Eastern European production.
Focus: Belgium: Mystery-filled dramas, thrillers diving into the world of organised crime linked to prostitution and narcotics, but also crazy comedies full of quirky characters – this wild crossing of genres is typical for Belgium, the next TV series superpower introduced at Serial Killer. The Focus category represents a cross-section of recent Belgian series production, whose methods have been emulated in countries like Britain for some time now.
International Panorama: The International Panorama section showcases the best series from across all of Europe. You can look forward to a British psychological thriller starring Emily Watson as a forensic psychologist, and the comedy series Alma’s Not Normal, based on the experiences of English comedian Sophie Willan. The Austrian-German miniseries Me and the Others is a narrative experiment – a sort of an expedition into the head of Tristan, the protagonist trying to find himself. The Danish-Swedish TV show Snow Angels is a socially-themed drama from the public broadcasters that co-created the legendary Broen (The Bridge). The Cannesseries award-winning Swedish drama Partisan will remind you of the 1970s-era adventure thrillers, while the French retro-comedy UFOs will take you to that period directly.
Trending: Nordic Comedy: Perhaps we all have had our fill of Nordic crime shows, but surely there can never be enough Nordic comedies! This year we present a selection of the most popular comedies from Iceland, Sweden, Finland and Norway. The Finnish Welfare Warriors is a show about the employees of the Helsinki branch of the country’s unemployment office which sometimes balances on the edge of satire and horror. To Czech viewers, the three-part miniseries may dredge up uncomfortable memories of the institution’s Czech counterpart. Or you can take a road-trip with Ólafur Darri Ólafsson and his co-actor Víkingur Kristjánsson to a remote and extremely picturesque part of Iceland as they sort out issues of their fragile identities. Norwegian comedian Herman Flesvig managed to break the country’s most-watched shows records with his comedy In the Army Now, in which he plays all the parts himself.
Special Screenings: Serial Killer will showcase an extraordinary new Danish miniseries The Investigation, which is based on a true story from 2017. The series depicts the efforts of the Danish police to solve the murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall. The section will also feature two Czech TV series: The Defender (Ochránce), the first episode of which will be presented by a delegation from the production team, and The Nineties (Devadesátky), a new Czech crime drama from the creators of Cases of the 1st Department.
Web Series Competition: The web series competition will showcase several short series competing for the Best Webseries of Central and Eastern Europe award.
Best of Web Series: A cross-section of global web series. Unlike content created for traditional TV broadcasting, web series stand out thanks to the diversity of topics they tackle, creative freedom, speed of production and topicality. Ten of the best independent short series from around the world – representing all genres and styles – will be presented by Joël Bassaget, the greatest contemporary web series expert.