Canneseries 2022 has unveiled its Long Form Competition finalists, with Academy Award winners Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Punishment and Jean-Xavier De Lestrade’s The Inside Game, Seeds of Wrath featuring alongside the likes of Zentropa’s The Dreamer – Becoming Karen Blixen.
Germany is the only nation to have more than one show on the prestigious list (the other being Alex Eslam’s Souls), which also features Canada’s Audrey’s Back, Spain’s El Inmortal, Belgium’s 1985, Norway’s Afterglow, Israel’s The Lesson and Italy’s Bang Bang Baby. The latter, for Amazon Prime Video, is the only one from a global streaming service.
All will be given international premieres and the majority world premieres, with the jury set to be announced in due course.
Unveiling the list to Deadline, Canneseries Artistic Director Albin Lewi described the crop of 10 as showcasing “creativity at its best, reflecting the true diversity of content.”
The Short Form Competition will be announced tomorrow and a press conference today also saw the fifth Canneseries, which runs concurrently with Mip TV from April 1 to 6, unveil Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney as the winner of its Madame Figaro Rising Star Award, along with the shows playing out of competition: Halo, Le Flambeau, Les Aventuriers De Chupacabra, Infiniti and Visions.
The prestigious Long Form Competition will spark plenty of interest, with two Academy Award-winners in Downfall’s Hirschbiegel and Murder on a Sunday Morning’s De Lestrade featuring with shows for RTL+/VOX and ARTE respectively.
Elsewhere, Dunja Gry’sThe Dreamer – Becoming Karen Blixen for Scandi streamer Viaplay comes from Lars Von Trier’s Zentropa, as the same company’s feature The Worst Person in the World garners plenty of Oscar interest, and The Lesson represents Israel’s latest foray into the world of high-quality scripted programing.
Although entries dipped slightly from last year to around 150, Lewi said the list has broken new ground with the likes of anthology shows and sci-fi, while three are set in the 1980s.
He pointed to the global consumer’s penchant for shows not in the English language.
“Things have changed so much thanks to the streamers and people realize they are educated enough to watch in any language,” he added. “They are keen for more discoveries and want to be amazed by stories that have local flavor.”
No shows on either the Long Form or Short Form lists were from Russia prior to the conflict breaking out and Lewi expressed solidarity with Ukrainians and the EU.
The previous Canneseries took place in person alongside October’s Mipcom but General manager Benoît Louvet welcomed a return to no restrictions or vaccine passes.
“We will be free from any constraints for the first time since the second Canneseries, going back to our roots,” added Louvet.
He is presiding over the general running of the festival, which has introduced two new elements in the shape of a Canneseries Conception strand in which execs from the biggest production players will meet to forge alliances, and a focus on South Korea following the runaway success of Netflix’s Squid Game.