Series Mania - The director of Compartment No6 is joining a group of 10 A-list filmmakers turning to long-form fiction, as part of the Seriesmakers training programme, organised by Series Mania, with support from the European content powerhouse Beta Group.

Top Finnish director Kuosmanen, multi-awarded for his films The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki and most recently Compartment No6 (Cannes Grand Jury Prize 2021) is the latest top Nordic filmmaker making the jump to TV series, alongside Thomas Vinterberg, currently filming his first series Families Like Ours.

Kuosmanen’s eight-part Yours, Margot is described in a statement as a drama set in East Berlin.

After discovering her father’s letters to an unknown lover, Vilja unearths her family’s traumatic past in 1980s East Berlin. According to Variety the story will be adapted by Compartment No6 co-writers Andri Feldmanis and Livia Ulman from the eponymous debut novel by Finnish journalist and author Meri Valkama.

When published in 2021, the novel compared to both Ian McEwan and Sarah Waters in style, was a resounding success when published in Finland in 2021. It went on winning Helsingin Sanomat newspaper’s Best Debut of the Year Award 2022 and Bonnier Rights Finland closed publishing deals with Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Lithuania and Germany.

The project in development is being produced by Kuosmanen’s regular production partner Jussi Rantamäki of Aamu Film Company.

The director-producer team has just taken part with Yours, Margot in the new writing training scheme Seriesmakers, led by Lille’s major festival Series Mania, with support from Munich-based Beta Group.

SERIESMAKERS
The 10 international series part of the programme, were picked out of more than 170 submissions from 54 countries by rising directors selected at an A-festival with their first or second feature.

The director-led teams that also include France’s Eva Husson (Bang Gang) and Ciro Guerra (Birds of Passage), were able to develop a full pitch deck under the mentorship of award-winning German producer Janine Jackowski (Toni Erdmann), Israeli writer/script doctor Ronit Weiss-Berkowitz (The Girl from Oslo), Copenhagen-based development producer Isabelle Lindberg Pechou (Trom), and Brazilian showrunner Felipe Braga (Sintona).

High-profile speakers that took part in the training scheme include Agnieszka Holland, Frank Doelger, Michael Hirst, Hagai Levi, and Stefan Arndt.

Kuosmanen and his Berlin-set project will be running both for the €50,000 Beta Development Award, to be handed out to two of the 10 selected Seriesmakers during Series Mania (March 21-23), and for the €20,000 Kirch Foundation award, co-sponsored by the University of Television and Film Munich.

Aamu Film Company will be at Series Mania with another TV project to be pitched at the ‘Coming Next for Finland’ session: Monster, directed by Hannaleena Hauru, based on a script by Eva-Maria Koskinen - SEE OUR SEPARATE STORY - Series Mania - six hot series coming from Finland to be sneak-peeked in Lille: CLICK HERE.

For further details about all projects selected for Seriesmakers, check: www.seriesmania.com