South African drama ‘Paradys’ wins top Series Mania project prize

South African drama Paradys won the top €50,000 project prize at French TV festival and industry event Series Mania on Tuesday evening (March 22).

It was among 15 projects presented in the centrepiece Co-Pro Pitching Sessions of the industry-focused Series Mania Forum.

“The country [South Africa] is well known for the high quality of the international productions that shoot there. To see the same standards applied to a distinctive and ambitious local project will be very exciting,” said jury president Antony Root, EVP and head of original production at WarnerMedia EMEA.

The other jury members comprised Noel Hedges, EVP acquisition eOne in Germany; Yaël Fogiel, co-director of French production company Films du Poisson; Daniele Cesarano, head of drama at Italy’s RTI Mediaset Group; and Susanne Fran,k director of ZDFE.drama at Germany’s ZDF Enterprises.

Paradys was created by Darrel Bristow-Bovey and Anton Visser. Bristow-Bovey also takes writing credits. Nimrod Geva at Johannesburg-based Quizzical Pictures lead produces, with Israel’s Avi Nir on board as executive producer for Keshet International.

Set in an anachronistic whites-only Afrikaans town called Paradys, the drama follows two detectives who become the first black people to step foot in the enclave when they are called in to investigate the brutal murder of an elder’s son.

More than 100 projects have been pitched at the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions since the launch in 2013 including Blackport, which won best series in the Series Mania international competition in 2021. 

Other successful shows pitched at the event have included No Man’s Land (France), Banking District (Switzerland), Eden (France), Keeping Faith (Great Britain), Manor House (Czech Republic), Stella Blomkvist (Iceland), Tabula Rasa (Belgium), Trepalium (France), Warrior (Denmark), Devils (Italy), The Head (Spain), Ever After (Italy), and We Got This (Sweden).

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