Seriesly Berlin has maintained its reputation for supporting complex TV series with its latest batch of award winners.
Raise your handsa musical drama series from the US that focuses on an Israeli musician and a Palestinian singer who meet in Berlin’s hip-hop scene, won the Book Show Award last night at a ceremony held near Fotografiska in the German capital.
The pitch was a popular winner, with the judging panel unanimous on the winner and many people we spoke to approving of the choice. The audience cheered wildly when the announcement was made.
“Raise your hands The “Seriesly Berlin” jury said in a statement: “It has all the ingredients to be a great series: a clear central conflict, unusual characters, and even great music. It is a perfect example of a hyper-local premise that can serve as a metaphor, affecting audiences all over the world. This story shows us that creative collaboration can transcend impossible boundaries, and provides a path to mutual understanding in difficult times.”
Coming from US-born Nita Weiner, Samira Saraya and Michelle Cooper Keren, the story revolves around Israeli musician Geva and Palestinian singer Manal, who come together in a high-stakes collaboration created by Petra, a former music industry figure who sees their volatile chemistry as an opportunity for a comeback of her own. As their music gains traction, their growing fame soon turns dangerous, and they’re caught between political pressures, family expectations, and constant public scrutiny, forcing them to risk their relationships, their futures, and even their lives for the freedom of being heard.
Palestinian artist, actress, and director Saraya and Jewish rapper, musician, and actor Weiner have worked in music, theater, and screen as activists whose work explores identity, politics, and resistance. They were members of a Palestinian-Jewish hip-hop group and founders of the Cultural Education Initiative. Israeli screenwriter and director Keren has worked on shows for HBO Go, Canal+, Disney, Rai, Nickelodeon and Netflix.
The pitch beat out bids from Ireland, Germany, Serbia and the United Kingdom to win the Writers Pitch Prize, taking home a €1,000 ($1,150) prize.
Elsewhere, Latvian drama The man behind the mask (The man in the mask) won the Co-Pro Pitch Award and received a €25,000 post-production services award.
The show, created by Anna Kalnina and producer Serge Serpukhovs, follows famed Soviet reconstructive surgeon Nikolai, who pioneered groundbreaking procedures, including the Soviet Union’s first sex reassignment surgery, until the KGB blackmailed him into espionage.
According to the synopsis, “His missions take him across Europe and beyond, where every medical breakthrough turns into a covert operation. Torn between his calling as a healer and his role as a spy, Nikolai is forced to betray patients, outwit intelligence agencies and face impossible moral choices. In the end, he survives, but returns home forever changed, having lost his innocence and faith in the system.”
The jury said it was “a compelling story of strength and vulnerability, set in an authentic setting and based on true events that uses exciting espionage elements to create a highly entertaining show for a global audience with potential to run for multiple seasons.”
The SteinbrennerMüller Award, handed out by Berlin-based public relations firm SteinbrennerMüller Kommunkation to a German show with the best potential to connect with audiences, went to Hannah Doose. I am God (I am God).
The show follows eight middle-aged people who come together for a spiritual festival on the German-Polish border. Amid cocoa ceremonies, breathing ceremonies and psychedelic rituals, relationships begin to crumble, families grow apart and old wounds resurface, while festival organizers ignore warnings of an approaching hurricane.
“The premise is a very clear promise of entertainment – world-building in a nature reserve on the border between Germany and Poland,” a SteinbrennerMüller representative said. “I am God Explores social issues in a light but relevant way through hyperbole.
“This enclosed setting allows for the creation of characters that reflect all aspects of society and that a wide audience can identify with, as well as a lot of fun. And looming above it all is the looming threat of an approaching hurricane, which could wipe out all these ‘first world problems’ in an instant.”
Mayana FIlms is the producer, with Doose writing alongside Nicolas Chevaillier and Sarah Schill. Chevaillier and Zorana Mušikić are the producers.
The Seriesly Berlin conference ends today.
