Jack Thorne, Ron Leshem, Pedro Almodovar Feature in Talent-Studded Series Mania Main Competition
variety.comJohn Hopewell Chief International Correspondent With an International Panorama spangled by gems – think Spain’s “Apagón,” Sweden’s “Blackwater,” and Canada’s “Disobey” and “Little Bird” – Series Mania also weighs in this year with one, if not the, strongest and most mouthwatering of international competitions in its history.
Including the opening and closing series, Amazon’s “Greek Salad” and Netflix’s “Transatlantic,” nearly all the global streamers have titles in the lineup, from Apple TV+’s “Drops of God” and Paramount+’s “Fleeting Lies.” The lineup also features some A-List international writing talents, such as the U.K.’s Jack Thorne and Israel’s Ron Leshem and Amit Cohen, whose “The Virtues” and “No Man’s Land” rank among the most memorable of recent Series Mania competition titles, and closing the festival, out of competition, “Unorthodox’s” Anna Wenger.”Fleeting Lies” also represents one of the first series from Pedro and Agustín Almodóvar’s El Deseo label in Madrid, opening series “Greek Salad” Cedric Klapisch’s first works a TV series creator.
Enjoy! “Greek Salad,” (France) A serial sequel to Cédric Klapish’s career defining “The Spanish Apartment” movie trilogy, picking up the story one generation on as Wendy and Xavier’s kids, Tom and Mia, move to Athens having inherited a family apartment.
But he’s a New York educated company start-upper, while she, unknown to her parents, has become an anti-capitalist activist. “It’s a way of talking again about today’s youth in Europe,” says Klapisch. “The Actor,” (Iran) A playful suspense drama created by filmmaker Navid Javidi, best known for “Melbourne” (2014) and the well-reviewed “The Warden” (2019), both movies.
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