Also this year the serial has to take place virtually due to the pandemic. 50 series and 9 pilots from 19 countries are shown in the competition. The online format also offers advantages for the festival.
Last year, due to the pandemic, the serial was relocated to the Internet without further ado – and with a red carpet for the nominees. So it’s no wonder that the Corona topic has now found its way into the web series submitted for the Gießen 2021 Digital Series Festival.
In the romantic comedy »Canceled«, a wedding is canceled due to the coronavirus. The play was written and staged during the lockdown in Australia. The Brazilian sci-fi action series “22”, on the other hand, lets viewers look into the future, more precisely into the year 2022. How will the corona pandemic have affected?
It is already the 7th edition of Seriale, Germany’s oldest festival for short-format and innovative web series. On Wednesday, June 2nd, the Giessen Festival begins with the official opening by Mayor Dietlind Grabe-Bolz. All interested parties can stream a selection of 50 series and 9 pilots from 19 countries free of charge until June 7th. A jury of 29 members from eleven countries will announce the winners on Sunday, May 6th in the »Award Ceremony«. The event is produced in advance, but also contains live elements (the Gießener Allgemeine Zeitung reported). In the previous year, over 100,000 viewers worldwide had followed the series.
At yesterday’s press conference, the mayor was “enthusiastic and quite proud” to have such a successful festival here in Giessen. You can tell that the series is very well received worldwide from the fact that more and more international filmmakers and many new filmmakers are applying with submissions. Founder and festival director Csongor Dobrotka sees the city as responsible for the fact that the festival has developed so enormously in just seven years. “We could only grow because we found our home and support in Giessen,” he said.
In addition to the most important part, the screening of the digital series, interviews with series producers are shown again and again. A special highlight is a panel from the Lottehof Wetzlar, with the six Hessian filmmakers. Among them are two students of applied theater studies from Giessen. Katharina Frech and Anna Maria Pahlke contribute the western trash series »GinGin ~ PomPom ~ PomPommes«.
“Series production in Hesse has increased,” said Dobrotka. He and Grabe-Bolz regret that the Seriale cannot take place as a face-to-face event this year either. However, the mayor is looking forward to the “mutual interactive exchange on the Internet” – this goes well with the core content of the festival, digital series.
19 countries represented
However, the online process also has advantages. Participants from South Korea or Australia who would otherwise have had a long journey can take part in the award ceremony and discussion rounds. In addition, all series can be streamed via the Seriale’s website. So fans all over the world can follow the series spectacle, which would not be possible with a screening in the cinema center.
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