Thursday, June 13th 2017
The third edition of the IndieSerien Festival Die Seriale is over and it’s time to make the point: how it went, what kind of experience it was, which are the winners… In short: how you doin’, web series world?
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| Ph. by Rossi Photography |
Let me give it to you straight: even if this was the first edition as an international festival, Die Seriale went super well. Commonplaces tell us that German people can be too cold and stern, but if all those cliches were true, I should write this article with a pizza on the table and a mandolin by my side. So let’s get rid of these stereotypes and let me tell why Die Seriale went so well. Two reasons, above all: one is related to the technical aspects of making a festival; the other one, is purely a human factor that involves all these web series world we’re so passionate about.
Let’s start with the technical aspects: organizing a festival is a hard work, trust me. Everything must be as perfect as possible to give the audience an amazing time, but also provide them professional days in which they can learn or improve their knowledge of the matter. Moreover, a web series festival must be obviously about the web series: supporting, promoting and helping creators around the world. That’s what this is all about, in the end. Sometimes it’s not easy to conciliate everything, but here at Die Seriale they created an almost perfect formula, especially when it came to the “screening block” moments.
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| Ph. by Rossi Photography – Special thanks to Tom Chamberlain AKA Sleeping Beauty |
They really hit the mark: all the selected series were screened in a real good quality movie theater and during the blocks there weren’t other panels, workshops or whatever held simultaneously. This means that all the authors and professionals here in Giessen were in that movie theater, actually watching the series. Wonderful choice, it really helped to create a even bigger sense of community among authors, which lead to hours of conversations about this or that series. Support and promote, as we said.
Of course this was done along with the panels and workshops with festival partners, directors and professors: a sort of State of the Web series Union that it’s always interesting to listen about.
During these days, there was the feeling that we are very close to the moment of truth: either the web series world is ready to become bigger and conquer the market, or it is just a bubble ready to pop. It’s up to us: if we tight the ranks and go ahead, promoting our works as a valid alternative to cinema and television, we can bring this thing to higher levels. So, well done Die Seriale, you remind us once more that we’re not joking around and we deserve a world wide consideration.
During these days, there was the feeling that we are very close to the moment of truth: either the web series world is ready to become bigger and conquer the market, or it is just a bubble ready to pop. It’s up to us: if we tight the ranks and go ahead, promoting our works as a valid alternative to cinema and television, we can bring this thing to higher levels. So, well done Die Seriale, you remind us once more that we’re not joking around and we deserve a world wide consideration.
Why do we deserve it? That’s related to the second pro about this Die Seriale edition. We are capable of doing something unique and that must be underlined in our troubled times: we make art without borders. The food for this thought comes from the Technical Director of the festival, Julian Hansmann, who pointed it out during the award-ceremony and I want to push on this vital subject, by using an example.
| Ph. by Ralf Hofacker |
Yesterday, during the trip organized by Die Seriale staff, we found ourselves in a Paulaner’s pub: we were having a beer tastings, a typical Bavarian dinner and basically having a good time. We were talking about the differences everyone have in their own country about food, language, social behaviors etc. It was a super-interesting conversation, full of learning and interesting aspects. At a certain moment, I looked myself around and counted how many we were and from where: Italy, Germany, Poland, France, Euskadi, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan and South Korea. Ten countries from three continents were talking about their own internal differences. And that’s when I remembered Julian’s words: we create digital series, we travel countries, we explore new cultures, we make art without borders. Isn’t that amazing, considering the moment we’re living in?
Let me be a little sappy (I’m Italian, I should be allowed to be it by law), but this thing we’re doing, destroying barriers, not caring about a world who is pushing to create (again) the fear of the others, to feed hate and xenophobia, this thing here is a form of art itself. We’re cinema lovers, filmmakers, storyteller and whatever, but first of all we’re proving to ourselves and to the world that we’re amazing human being.
And that, my friends, is why this web series world we have created (and still are creating) deserves all the best. Thanks Die Seriale, Csongor Dobrotka and all the team, for having build an environment in which this aspect has been underlined so well. Danke schön, see you around the world!
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| Ph. by Rossi Photography |
Cristiano Bolla,
reviewed by C.Bressa
⬇ Here below, the full list of the DIE SERIALE 2017 winners⬇
BEST SERIES
Wishlist
BEST DIRECTOR
Lucie Tournant – Weakness
BEST ACTRESS
Caris Vujcec – The Pepper Project
BEST ACTOR
Jarod Joseph – Coded
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Anahì Traversi – La Stirpe di Orazio
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Vincent Debost – Bertrand
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Muriel Aboulrouss – Zyara
BEST SCREENPLAY
Camille Duvelleroy – Bertrand
BEST EDITING
Marc Schießer – Wishlist
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Gian Marco Castro – Hidden
BEST SOUND DESIGN
Wishlist
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Osmosis
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Tubeheads
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Zyara
BEST PILOT
Albtrauf